Significance of Nanoparticle Radius and Gravity Modulation on Dynamics of Nanofluid over Stretched Surface via Finite Element Simulation: The Case of Water-Based Copper Nanoparticles

Abstract

This communication studies the importance of varying the radius Dp of Copper nanoparticles for microgravity-modulated mixed convection in micropolar nanofluid flux under an inclined surface subject magnetic field and heat source. In the current era, extremely pervasive modernized technical implementations have drawn attention to free convection governed by g-jitter force connected with microgravity. Therefore, fixed inter-spacing of nanoparticles and effects of g-jitter on the inclined surface are taken into consideration. A mathematical formulation based on conservation principles was non-dimensionalized by enforcement of similarity transformation, yielding a related set of ODEs. The convective non-linearity and coupling, an FE discretization, was implemented and executed on the Matlab platform. The numerical process’ credibility was ensured for its acceptable adoption with the defined outcomes. Then, the computational endeavor was continued to elucidate the impacts of various inputs of Dp, the amplitude of modulation ϵ, material parameter β, mixed convection parameter λ, inclination angle γ, and magnetic parameter M. The enlarging size of nanoparticles accelerated the nanofluid flow due to the depreciation of viscosity and receded the fluid temperature by reducing the surface area for heat transportation. The modulated Nusselt number, couple stress, and skin friction coefficient are significantly affected by the variation of Dp, M, β, λ, and ϵ. These results would benefit experts dealing with upper space transportation and materials’ performance, such as the effectualness of chemical catalytic reactors and crystals.

Keywords

• finite element method
• gravity modulation
• micropolar fluid
• nanoparticle radius
• MHD