Boundary layer flow and heat transfer over a nonlinearly permeable stretching/shrinking sheet in a nanofluid.

ABSTRACT

The steady boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a nanofluid past a nonlinearly permeable stretching/shrinking sheet is numerically studied. The governing partial differential equations are reduced into a system of ordinary differential equations using a similarity transformation, which are then solved numerically using a shooting method. The local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number and some samples of velocity, temperature and nanoparticle concentration profiles are graphically presented and discussed. Effects of the suction parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian motion parameter and the stretching/shrinking parameter on the flow, concentration and heat transfer characteristics are thoroughly investigated. Dual solutions are found to exist in a certain range of the stretching/shrinking parameter for both shrinking and stretching cases. Results indicate that suction widens the range of the stretching/shrinking parameter for which the solution exists.