Boundary-Layer Flow of a Nanofluid past a Stretching Sheet under Uniform Heat and Mass Flux

Abstract

The steady boundary layer flow resulting from the stretching of a flat surface with a velocity proportional to the distance from a fixed point in a nanofluid under uniform heat and mass flux has been investigated numerically and using the nanofluid model proposed by Buongiorno (“Convective Transport in Nanofluids, ASME J. Heat Transfer, Vol. 128, 2006, pp. 240– 250). The effects of Brownian motion and thermophoresis are incorporated in the model in order to obtain similarity solutions of the governing equations in terms of different parameters. The variation of the reduced Nusselt and reduced Sherwood numbers with the Prandtl number (Pr) and the Lewis number (Le) for various values of the Brownian motion parameter (Nb) and the thermophoresis parameter (Nt) is presented in tabular and graphical forms. It was found that the reduced Nusselt number is a decreasing function of each parameter (Pr, Le, Nb, and Nt), whereas the reduced Sherwood number is an increasing function of Nb and a decreasing function of Nt for each Le and Pr number.