Hydrothermal and mass aspects of MHD non-Darcian convective flows of radiating thixotropic nanofluids nearby a horizontal stretchable surface: Passive control strategy

Abstract

Numerous rheological examinations attested that many products employed frequently in our daily life exhibit a thixotropic rheological behavior with a shear-thinning tendency (e.g., toothpaste, hair gels, ketchup, gypsum, and paints). Motivated by the importance of nanofluids in the thermal and mass transfer processes and their rheological trends, this article aimed to analyze convective boundary layer flows of radiating thixotropic nanofluids over a horizontal stretching surface by considering the retardational influences of Darcy-Forchheimer and Lorentz forces and invoking the effective contribution of Brownian and thermophoresis diffusions in the energy and concentration equations. By adopting the boundary layer approximations along with the zero mass flux and convective conditions, the conservation equations of the present non-homogeneous nanofluid flow model are derived mathematically in the form of partial differential equations (PDEs) based on Buongiorno's approach. After converting the leading PDEs into a set of nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs) via feasible local similarity alterations, the resulting highly nonlinear system of governing ODEs is then solved numerically using an efficient differential quadrature algorithm. As findings, it is found that the thixotropy feature reinforces the nanofluid motion. Besides, the significant impact of the radiative term is noticed in the heat flux rate. In contrast, the induced Darcy-Forchhemier and Lorentz forces impact unfavorably on the nanofluid flow and consequently alter the intensity of drag forces. Further results are provided also graphically and tabularly.

Keywords

• MHD thixotropic Nanofluid flow
• Darcy-Forchheimer model
• Rosseland's radiative process
• Buongiorno's model
• Convective heating
• Passive control approach