Entropy Generation Minimization in MHD Boundary Layer Flow over a Slendering Stretching Sheet in the Presence of Frictional and Joule Heating

Abstract

In the present paper, we study the entropy analysis of boundary layer flow over a slender stretching sheet under the action of a non uniform magnetic field that is acting perpendicular to the flow direction. The effects of viscous dissipation and Joule heating are included in the energy equation. Using similarity transformation technique the momentum and thermal boundary layer equations to a system of nonlinear differential equations. Numerical solutions are obtained using the shooting and fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The expressions for the entropy generation number and Bejan number are also obtained using a suggested similarity transformation. The main objective of this article is to investigate the effects of different governing parameters such as the magnetic parameter (M2), Prandtl number (Pr), Eckert number (Ec), velocity index parameter (m), wall thickness parameter (α), temperature difference parameter (Ω), entropy generation number (Ns) and Bejan number (Be). All these effects are portrayed graphically and discussed in detail. The analysis reveals that entropy generation reduces with decreasing wall thickness parameter and increasing temperature difference between the stretching sheet and the fluid outside the boundary layer. The viscous and magnetic irreversibilities are dominant in the vicinity of the stretching surface.