Numerical solutions for unsteady boundary layer flow of a dusty fluid past a permeable stretching/shrinking surface with particulate viscous effect

Abstract

Purpose This present aims to present the numerical study of the unsteady stretching/shrinking flow of a fluid-particle suspension in the presence of the constant suction and dust particle slip on the surface. Design/methodology/approach The governing partial differential equations for the two phases flows of the fluid and the dust particles are reduced to the pertinent ordinary differential equations using a similarity transformation. The numerical results are obtained using the bvp4c function in the Matlab software. Findings The results revealed that in the decelerating shrinking flow, the wall skin friction is higher in the dusty fluid when compared to the clean fluid. In addition, the effect of the fluid-particle interaction parameter to the fluid-phase can be seen more clearly in the shrinking flow. Other non-dimensional physical parameters such as the unsteadiness parameter, the mass suction parameter, the viscosity ratio parameter, the particle slip parameter and the particle loading parameter are also considered and presented in figures. Further, the second solution is discovered in this problem and the solution expanded with higher unsteadiness and suction values. Hence, the stability analysis is performed, and it is confirmed that the second solution is unstable. Practical implications In practice, the flow conditions are commonly varying with time; thus, the study of the unsteady flow is very crucial and useful. The problem of unsteady flow of a dusty fluid has a wide range of possible applications such as in the centrifugal separation of particles, sedimentation and underground disposable of radioactive waste materials. Originality/value Even though the problem of dusty fluid has been broadly investigated, limited discoveries can be found over an unsteady shrinking flow. Indeed, this paper managed to obtain the second (dual) solutions, and stability analysis is performed. Furthermore, the authors also considered the artificial particle-phase viscosity, which is an important term to study the particle-particle and particle-wall interactions. With the addition of this term, the effects of the particle slip and suction parameters can be investigated. Very few studies in the dusty fluid embedded this parameter in their problems.