MHD radiative nanofluid flow induced by a nonlinear stretching sheet in a porous medium

Abstract

In this article, we numerically investigate the influence of thermal radiation and heat generation on the flow of an electrically conducting nanofluid past a nonlinear stretching sheet through a porous medium with frictional heating. The partial differential equations governing the flow problems are reduced to ordinary differential equations via similarity variables. The reduced equations are then solved numerically with the aid of Keller box method. The influence of physical parameters such as nanoparticle volume fraction ϕ, permeability parameter K, nonlinear stretching sheet parameter n, magnetic field parameter M, heat generation parameter Q and Eckert number Ec on the flow field, temperature distribution, skin friction and Nusselt number are studied and presented in graphical illustrations and tabular forms. The results obtained reveal that there is an enhancement in the rate of heat transfer with the rise in nanoparticle volume fraction and permeability parameter. The temperature distribution is also influenced with the presence of K, Q, R and ϕ. This shows that the solid volume fraction of nanoparticle can be used in controlling the behaviours of heat transfer and nanofluid flows.