Three-dimensional mixed convection flow of viscoelastic nanofluid over an exponentially stretching surface

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the three-dimensional mixed convection flow of viscoelastic nanofluid induced by an exponentially stretching surface.

Design/methodology/approach

Similarity transformations are utilized to reduce the partial differential equations into the ordinary differential equations. The corresponding non-linear problems are solved by homotopy analysis method.

Findings

The authors found that an increase in thermophoresis and Brownian motion parameter enhance the temperature. Here thermal conductivity of fluid is enhanced due to which higher temperature and thicker thermal boundary layer thickness is obtained.

Practical implications

Heat and mass transfer effects in mixed convection flow over a stretching surface have numerous applications in the polymer technology and metallurgy. Such flows are encountered in metallurgical processes which involve the cooling of continuous strips or filaments by drawing them through a quiescent fluid and that in the process of drawing, these strips are sometimes stretched.

Originality/value

Three-dimensional flows over an exponentially stretching surface are very rare in the literature. Three-dimensional flow of viscoelastic nanofluid due to an exponentially stretching surface is first time investigated.

Citation

Hayat, T., Ashraf, B., Shehzad, S.A., Alsaedi, A. and Bayomi, N. (2015), "Three-dimensional mixed convection flow of viscoelastic nanofluid over an exponentially stretching surface", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 333-357. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-01-2014-0024