Investigation of nanoparticles shape effects on MHD nanofluid flow and heat transfer over a rotating stretching disk through porous medium

Abstract

Purpose In this article, we consider the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) nanofluid flow over a rotating stretchable disk through porous medium. For porous medium, Darcy’s relation is used. It also encompassed the impact of nanoparticles shape on MHD nanofluid flow and heat transfer. The effect of thermal radiation and Joule heating is also being considered. Design/methodology/approach Three categories of nanoparticles are taken into deliberation, i.e. copper, silver and titanium oxide. The nanofluid is made of pure water and various types of sphere- and lamina-shaped nanoparticles. By using appropriate similarity transformation, the governing partial differential equations are transformed to ordinary one. The coupled ordinary differential equations system is tackled numerically by bvp4c method. Findings The impact of various pertinent parameters, i.e. solid volume fraction, Hartman number, thermal radiations parameter, Reynolds number, Eckert number, porosity parameter and ratio parameter, on flow and Nusselt number with a fixed value of Prandtl number at 6.2 is discussed in details. The obtained results are presented in the concluding section. The lamina shape of nanoparticles in silver-water performed an excellent role on temperature distribution. The heat transfer rate of lamina shape in copper-water was found to be greater in the system of flow regime. Originality/value The authors have discussed the shape effect of nanoparticles on MHD nanofluid flow over a rotating stretchable disk through porous medium using three categories of nanoparticles, such as copper, silver and titanium oxide. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on mass and heat transfer nanofluid flow and no such study is yet published in literature. A detailed mathematical analysis has also to be carried out to prove the regularity of model. The authors believe that the numerical results are original and have not been copied from any other sources.