Mixed convection stagnation-point flow of a nanofluid past a permeable stretching/shrinking sheet in the presence of thermal radiation and heat source/sink

Abstract

In this study we numerically examine the mixed convection stagnation-point flow of a nanofluid over a vertical stretching/shrinking sheet in the presence of suction, thermal radiation and a heat source/sink. Three distinct types of nanoparticles, copper (Cu), alumina (Al2O3) and titania (TiO2), were investigated with water as the base fluid. The governing partial differential equations were converted into ordinary differential equations with the aid of similarity transformations and solved numerically by utilizing the bvp4c programme in MATLAB. Dual (upper and lower branch) solutions were determined within a particular range of the mixed convection parameters in both the opposing and assisting flow regions and a stability analysis was carried out to identify which solutions were stable. Accordingly, solutions were gained for the reduced skin friction coefficients, the reduced local Nusselt number, along with the velocity and temperature profiles for several values of the parameters, which consists of the mixed convection parameter, the solid volume fraction of nanoparticles, the thermal radiation parameter, the heat source/sink parameter, the suction parameter and the stretching/shrinking parameter. Furthermore, the solutions were presented in graphs and discussed in detail.