Homotopy simulation of axisymmetric laminar mixed convection nanofluid boundary layer flow over a vertical cylinder

Abstract

In this paper, the semi-analytical/numerical technique known as the homotopy analysis method (HAM) is employed to derive solutions for the laminar axisymmetric mixed convection boundary-layer nanofluid flow past a vertical cylinder. The similarity solutions are employed to transform the parabolic partial differential conservation equations into system of nonlinear, coupled ordinary differential equations, subject to appropriate boundary conditions. A comparison has been done to verify the obtained results with the purely numerical results of Grosan and Pop (2011) with excellent correlation achieved. The effects of nanoparticle volume fraction, curvature parameter and mixed convection or buoyancy parameter on the dimensionless velocity and temperature distributions, skin friction and wall temperature gradients are illustrated graphically. HAM is found to demonstrate excellent potential for simulating nanofluid dynamics problems. Applications of the study include materials processing and also thermal enhancement of energy systems.

Keywords

• semi-analytical solution
• mixed convection
• boundary-layers
• vertical cylinder
• nanofluid
• HAM
• auxiliary parameter
• energy systems enhancement