Heat and Mass Transfer Characteristics of Nanofluids in a Rotating System: A Convective Boundary Layer Flow

Abstract

Convective heat and mass transfer in nanofluids is a topic of major contemporary interest in both science and technology. In view of this, an unsteady MHD free convective flow of nanofluids through a porous medium bound by a moving vertical semi-infinite permeable flat plate with a constant heat source and convective boundary condition in a rotating frame of reference is studied theoretically. The novelty is the consideration of constant heat source and convective boundary condition in a rotating frame. The velocity along the plate i.e., slip velocity is assumed to oscillate in time with constant frequency so that the solutions of the boundary layer are of the same oscillatory type. The dimensionless governing equations for this investigation are solved analytically using small perturbation approximation. Two types of nanofluids, namely Cu-water and Al2O3-water are used. The effects of various parameters on the flow, heat and mass transfer characteristics are discussed through graphs and tables. An increase in the convective parameter and nanoparticle volume fraction leads to increase the thermal boundary layer thickness but opposite effect occurs for heat generation.