A study of heat and mass transfer on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of nanoparticles

Abstract

Investigation of the flow, heat and mass transfer of a nanofluid over a suddenly moved flat plate is presented using Buongiorno's model. This study is different from some of the previous studies as the effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis on nanoparticles volume fraction are passively controlled on the boundary rather than actively. The partial differential equations governing the flow are reduced to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Viable similarity transforms are used for this purpose. A well-known numerical scheme called Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method coupled with shooting procedure has been used to find the solution of resulting system of equations. Discussions on the effects of different emerging parameters is provided using graphical aid. A table is also given that provides the results of different parameters on local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers. The passive control model can be used to control the boundary layer thickness as well as the rate of mass transfer at the wall. Keywords: Nanofluid, Brownian motion, Thermophoresis, Nusselt number, Sherwood numbe