Colloids and Interfaces (Jan 2020)
Statistical Modeling for Nanofluid Flow: A Stretching Sheet with Thermophysical Property Data
Abstract
This paper reports the use of a numerical solution of nanofluid flow. The boundary layer flow over a stretching sheet in combination of two nanofluids models is studied. The partial differential equation that governs this model was transformed into a nonlinear ordinary differential equation by using similarity variables, and the numerical results were obtained by applying the shooting technique. Copper (Cu) nanoparticles (water-based fluid) were used in this study. This paper presents and discusses all numerical results, including those for the local Sherwood number and the local Nusselt number. Additionally, the effects of the nanoparticle volume fraction, Brownian motion Nb, and thermophoresis Nt on the performance of heat transfer are discussed. The results show that the stretching sheet has a unique solution: as the nanoparticle volume fraction φ (φ = 0), Nt (Nt = 0.1), and Nb decrease, the rate of heat transfer increases. Furthermore, as φ (φ = 0) and Nb decrease, the rate of mass transfer increases. The data of the Nusselt and Sherwood numbers were tested using different statistical distributions, and it is found that both datasets fit the Weibull distribution for different values of Nt and rotating φ.
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