Convective nanofluid flow subjected to variable porosity, inclined magnetic field, and thermal radiations

Nanofluids pique the attention of researchers and scientists because of their excellent thermal transfer rates. They have numerous technological and industrial implementations in daily life. Nonsimilar analysis in this research is performed to study the consequences of nonuniform porosity of a porous medium on the radiative flow of nanofluid across a vertically positioned stretching surface. Moreover, the effects of viscous dissipation and inclined magnetic field are also taken into account. Single phase nanofluid model with latest thermophysical features of nanofluid are considered to devise the physical problem. Hamilton-Crosser model is used to investigate the various shapes of nanoparticles. Titanium oxide (TiO2), Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2), water and Borosilicate ceramic are regarded as nanoparticles, base fluid, and porous media, respectively. The Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy model is assumed to represent the flow through porous medium. The governing partial differential equations (PDEs) with accompanying boundary conditions are transformed into the dimensionless system by deploying the appropriate transformations. The local nonsimilarity (LNS) approach with MATLAB bvp4c algorithm is executed to solve the dimensionless nonlinear coupled differential system. Results demonstrate that the augmentation in Hartmann number and porosity parameter diminished the velocity profiles of the considered nanofluids. Moreover, maximum temperature profile is noticed for the lamina shaped nanoparticles. Local Nusselt number for considered cases diminishes against the augmented estimations of Richardson number, radiation parameter and nanoparticles shape factor. A comparative study between the current study and previously published results for a specific case is conducted to validate the results, and good agreement is found between them.

Automated summary

This research investigates the effects of nonuniform porosity on the radiative flow of nanofluid, taking into account the viscous dissipation and inclined magnetic field. The governing equations are solved using a MATLAB algorithm, and the results are validated through a comparative study.