Analysis of Blasius Flow of Hybrid Nanofluids over a Convectively Heated Surface

Abstract

This article explores the problem of Blasius flow of water based hybrid nanofluid containing Al2O3 and Cu as nanoparticles over a convectively heated surface. Five different geometries of nanoparticles shape viz spherical, bricks, cylindrical, platelets and blades are considered in our analysis. The nonlinear model equations are obtained and tackled numerically using shooting method coupled with Runge-Kutta Fehlberg numerical scheme. The effects of nanoparticle shapes and other relevant thermophysical parameters on fluid velocity, temperature, skin friction and Nusselt number are discussed with the help of computational illustrations. The result for skin friction coefficient is compared with already existing results in the literature and excellent agreement was obtained. It is found that the heat transfer rate of hybrid nanofluid (Cu-Al2O3/Water) is higher than that of nanofluid (Al2O3/Water) and the Nusselt number increment for blade shaped nanoparticles is the highest as compared to that of platelet, cylindrical, brick and spherical shaped nanoparticles.