N. Vishnu Ganesh

Hydromagnetic flow and radiative heat transfer of nanofluid past a vertical plate

Abstract Hydromagnetic flow of an incompressible viscous nanofluid past a vertical plate in the presence of thermal radiation is investigated both analytically and numerically. The radiative heat flux is described by the Rosseland diffusion approximation in the energy equation. The governing non-linear partial differential equations are converted into a set of ordinary differential equations by suitable similarity transformations. The resulting ordinary differential equations are successfully solved analytically with the help of homotopy analysis method and numerically by the fourth order Runge–Kutta method with shooting technique. The effects of various physical parameters are analyzed and discussed in graphical and tabular forms. The effects of some physical parameters such as Lewis number, Prandtl number, buoyancy ratio, thermophoresis, Brownian motion, radiation parameter and magnetic parameter are analyzed on the velocity, temperature and solid volume fraction profiles as well as on the reduced Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number. An excellent agreement is observed between present analytical and numerical results.