Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (May 2023)
Heat and mass transmission in a boundary layer flow due to swimming of motile gyrotactic microorganisms with variable wall temperature over a flat plate
Abstract
Nanotechnology can significantly revolutionize several industries and technology domains, such as homeland security, food safety, information technology, healthcare, energy, transportation, and environmental research. Thus, a numerical study of boundary layer flow on a moving horizontal flat plate filled with nanofluid with variable temperature at the wall and viscous dissipation in the presence of gyrotactic microorganisms is presented. The partial differential equations governing flow phenomena are transformed into ordinary differential equations with the aid of appropriate similarity transformations. The transformed ordinary differential equations are solved numerically with the help of the built-in BVP4C scheme of MATLAB. After the validation of the scheme, numerical solutions are determined for the temperature, nanoparticle concentration, and motile microorganism profiles, along with physical quantities of interest. The outcomes of physical factors such as the variable temperature index, Prandtl number, Eckert number, Lewis number, Peclet number, plate moving parameter, thermophoresis motion, and Brownian parameters are examined and reported through graphs and tables. From the tables, it is clear that skin friction = 0 when the velocity parameter = 1, which shows that there is no resistance at the fluid-solid surface. It is concluded that by increasing the variable temperature, the temperature gradient rises, because of which the thickness of the thermal boundary layer reduces. Finally, more innovations are inevitable with the advancement of this interdisciplinary science. Moreover, the current investigation may help to efficiently enhance the viscosity, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and convective heat transmission linked to those base fluids, such as water and oil.
