An Analytical Study on Boundary Layer Flow and Heat Transfer of Nanofluid Induced by a Non-Linearly Stretching Sheet

Abstract

Steady two-dimensional boundary layer flow of a nanofluid past a nonlinear stretching sheet is investigated analytically using the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). The employed model for nanofluid includes twocomponent four-equation non-homogeneous equilibrium model that incorporates the effects of Brownian motion ( Nb ), thermophoresis ( Nt ) and Lewis number ( Le ) simultaneously. The basic partial boundary layer equations have been reduced to a two-point boundary value problem via the similarity variables. Analytical results are in best agreements with those existing in the literatures. The outcomes signify the decreasing trend of heat transfer rate with thermophoresis, Brownian motion and Lewis number. However, concentration rate has a sensitive behavior with parameters, especially the Brownian motion and thermophoresis parameters. Also, the weak points of numerical methods in such problems have been mentioned and the efficiency of HAM, as an alternative approach, in solving these kinds of nonlinear coupled problems has been shown.

Keywords

• Nanofluid
• Nonlinear stretching sheet
• Homotopy analysis method
• Thermophoresis
• Brownian motion.