Unsteady convective heat and mass transfer of a nanofluid in Howarth’s stagnation point by Buongiorno’s model

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to do a comprehensive study on the unsteady general three-dimensional stagnation-point flow and heat transfer of a nanofluid by Buongiorno’s model.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the convective transport equations include the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. By introducing new similarity transformations for velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction, the basic equations governing the flow, heat and mass transfer are reduced into highly non-linear ordinary differential equations. The resulting non-linear system has been solved both analytically and numerically.

Findings

The analysis shows that velocity, temperature and nanoparticle concentration profiles in the respective boundary layers depend on five parameters, namely unsteadiness parameter A, Brownian motion parameter Nb, thermophoresis parameter Nt, Prandtl number Pr and Lewis number Le. It is found that the thermal boundary layer thickens with a rise in both of the Brownian motion and the thermophoresis effects. Therefore, similar to the earlier reported results, the Nusselt number decreases as the Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects become stronger. A correlation for the Nusselt number has been developed based on a regression analysis of the data. This correlation predicts the numerical results with a maximum error of 9 percent for a usual domain of the physical parameters.

Originality/value

The stagnation point flow toward a wavy cylinder (with nodal and saddle stagnation points) that a little attention has been given to it up to now. The examination of unsteadiness effect on the general three-dimensional stagnation-point flow. The application of an interesting and global model (Boungiorno’s model) for the nanofluid that incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. The study of the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis on the nanofluid flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics. The prediction of correlation for the Nusselt number based on a regression analysis of the data. General speaking, we can tell the problem with this geometry, characteristics, the applied model, and comprehensive results, was Not studied and analyzed in literature up to now.

Citation

Dinarvand, S., Hosseini, R. and Pop, I. (2015), "Unsteady convective heat and mass transfer of a nanofluid in Howarth’s stagnation point by Buongiorno’s model", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 1176-1197. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-04-2014-0095