Rheology of gyrotactic microorganisms in Jeffrey fluid flow: A stability analysis

Abstract

Non-Newtonian fluids display fascinating and versatile flow behavior, enabling applications in fields where precise control and manipulation of viscosity are required. This paper presents the rheology of Homann stagnation point flow for a Jeffrey fluid containing gyrotactic microorganisms over a biaxially stretching surface. The system of equations is solved numerically using appropriate similarity transformations and conditions. The boundary conditions are set to maintain a fixed physical environment, and the far field values are defined accordingly. The dual solutions are found and expressed in terms of relevant quantities, and their behavior is analyzed using graphical representations via bvp5c. Stability analysis is conducted as well. The model is extended to study the behavior of Jeffrey nanofluids under the influence of various physical phenomena such as thermophoresis, Brownian motion, Ohmic heating, heat source/sink, radiation, and chemical reaction. The model presented in this paper can help researchers predict and optimize the behavior of such systems for a range of industrial and biomedical applications. It is observed that when the smallest eigenvalue is positive, the disturbance initially decreases, and the flow is stable, otherwise unstable. The stretching/shrinking parameters affect the flow field and boundary layer characteristics, leading to changes in the skin friction forces and an increase in the skin friction coefficient. Moreover, the Peclet number augmented the concentration of microorganisms due to gyrotactic bioconvection for first and second solutions, whereas bioconvective Lewis number shows an opposite trend. The comparison of the present results, as a simplified case, with existing literature demonstrates good agreement.