A numerical study on MHD double diffusive nonlinear mixed convective nanofluid flow around a vertical wedge with diffusion of liquid hydrogen

Abstract

Abstract The present study focuses on double diffusive nonlinear (quadratic) mixed convective flow of nanoliquid about vertical wedge with nonlinear temperature-density-concentration variations. This study is found to be innovative and comprises the impacts of quadratic mixed convection, magnetohydrodynamics, diffusion of nanoparticles and liquid hydrogen flow around a wedge. Highly coupled nonlinear partial differential equations (NPDEs) and boundary constraints have been used to model the flow problem, which are then transformed into a dimensionless set of equations utilizing non-similar transformations. Further, a set of NPDEs would be linearized with the help of Quasilinearization technique, and then, the linear partial differential equations are transformed into a block tri-diagonal system through using implicit finite difference scheme, which is solved using Verga’s algorithm. The study findings were explored through graphs for the fluid velocity, temperature, concentration, nanoparticle volume fraction distributions and its corresponding gradients. One of the important results of this study is that the higher wedge angle values upsurge the friction between the particles of the fluid and the wedge surface. Rising Schmidt number declines the concentration distribution and enhances the magnitude of Sherwood number. Nanofluid’s temperature increases with varying applied magnetic field. The present study has notable applications in the designing and manufacturing of wedge-shaped materials in space aircrafts, construction of dams, thermal systems, oil and gas industries, etc.

Keywords

• Magnetohydrodynamic flow (MHD)
• Nanoliquid
• Quadratic convection
• Quasilinearization technique