Application of Laplace Transform for the Exact Effect of a Magnetic Field on Heat Transfer of Carbon Nanotubes-Suspended Nanofluids

Abstract

Abstract Since the discovery of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs), there is an increasing interest in their applications in industry and medical fields. Attempts of using such CNTs as drug carriers and in cancer therapy in the presence of a magnetic field are now undertaken because of their direct impacts on increasing the thermal conductivity of base fluids. Two types of CNTs are well known for the researchers, the single-walled CNT (SWCNTs) and the multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs); however, the subject of which one is more effective in treatment of cancer deserves more investigations. The present article discusses the effect of such types of CNTs on the flow and heat transfer of nanofluids in the presence of a magnetic field. Exact analytical solution for the heat equation has been obtained by using the Laplace transform, where the solution is expressed in terms of a new special function, the generalised incomplete gamma function. The effects of various parameters on the fluid velocity, temperature distribution, and heat transfer rates have been introduced. Details of possible applications of the current results in the treatment of cancer have been also discussed.