Effects of thermophoresis and variable properties on mixed convection along a vertical wavy surface in a fluid saturated porous medium

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of thermophoresis on mixed convection heat and mass transfer flow over a vertical wavy surface in a porous medium with variable properties, namely variable viscosity and variable thermal conductivity. The effect of wavy surface is incorporated into non-dimensional equations by using suitable transformations and then transformed into non-linear ordinary differential equations by employing the similarity transformations and then solved numerically. The transport process of flow, heat and mass transfer in the boundary layer for aiding and opposing flow cases is discussed. The structure of flow, temperature and concentration fields in the Darcy porous media are more pronounced by complex interactions among variable viscosity, variable thermal conductivity, mixed convective parameter, thermophoresis and amplitude of the wavy surface. Increasing thermophoresis parameter enhances velocity profile, concentration distribution and Sherwood number while reduces Nusselt number. As increase in variable viscosity, temperature and concentration distributions are enhanced while velocity profile, Nusselt number and Sherwood numbers are reduced. This study finds applications in aerosol Technology, space technology and processes involving high temperatures.

Keywords

• Variable properties
• Thermophoresis
• Mixed convection
• Vertical wavy surface
• Darcy porous medium