Interaction of aluminum oxide nanoparticles with flow of polyvinyl alcohol solutions base nanofluids over a wedge

Abstract

Abstract Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is an important industrial chemical, which is used in numerous chemical engineering applications. It is important to study and predict the flow behavior of PVA solutions and the role of nanoparticles in heat transfer applications to be used in chemical processes on industrial scale. Therefore, the present study deals with the PVA solution-based non-Newtonian Al2O3-nanofluid flow along with heat transfer over wedge. The power-law model is used for this non-Newtonian nanofluid which exhibited shear-thinning behavior. The influences of PVA and nanoparticles concentrations on the characteristics of velocity and temperature profiles are examined graphically. The impacts of these parameters on wall shear stress and convective heat transfer coefficient are also studied through tabular form. During the numerical computations, the impacts of these parameters on flow index and consistency index along with other physical properties of nanofluid are also considered. In this study, we found an improvement in heat transfer and temperature profile of fluid by distribution of Al2O3 nanoparticles. It is also noticed that resistance between adjacent layers of moving fluid is enhanced due to these nanoparticles which leads to decline in velocity profile and increases in shear stress at wall.