Nanomaterials in convection flow of nanofluid in upright channel with gradients

Abstract

This article highlights the natural convection nanofluids flow of in an upright channel undergoing chemical reaction and heat absorption. Five different nanoparticles such as titanium oxide (TiO2), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), copper oxide (CuO), copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) are considered in the analysis in water-based nanofluids. The problem is formulated in the form of partial differential equations. The precise results for the non-dimensional nanofluid concentration, temperature and velocity profiles, and the corresponding Sherwood numbers, Nusselt numbers and skin friction are derived in the form of rapid convergent series via the Laplace and finite sine-Fourier transforms. The comparison of nanofluids with water as base fluid added with five different nanoparticles is drawn and the effects of volume fraction of nanoparticles and diverse physical parameters for specified ranges, such as. 0.01≤φ≤0.05, 0.5≤Sc≤2.0, 0.5×10−6≤kc≤1.7×10−6, 0.5≤Pr≤2.7, 5≤Q≤50, 7≤Grc≤16, 6≤Grt≤15, on concentration, temperature and velocity fields are graphically underlined and discussed in details. We conclude that Ag-water has higher temperature due to higher thermal conductivity of Ag particles as compare to other nanoparticles Cu, TiO2, Al2O3 and CuO, while Al2O3-water has greater velocity than other nanofluids due to less density of Al2O3. Further, the expressions of skin friction, Sherwood numbers and Nusselt numbers are resolved on left plate and right plate of vertical channel and numerically expressed in tabular forms. Furthermore, it is originated that the heat transport rate enhances with increasing nanoparticle volume fraction.

Keywords

• Free convection
• Nanofluids
• Chemical reaction
• Laplace transforms
• Finite sine-Fourier transform
• Exact solutions