Heat and mass transfer effects on MHD non-Newtonian fluids flow through an inclined thermally-stratified porous medium

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze heat and mass transfer of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) non-Newtonian fluids flow past an inclined thermally stratified porous plate using a numerical approach.Design/methodology/approachThe flow equations are set up with the non-linear free convective term, thermal radiation, nanofluids and Soret–Dufour effects. Thus, the non-linear partial differential equations of the flow analysis were simplified by using similarity transformation to obtain non-linear coupled equations. The set of simplified equations are solved by using the spectral homotopy analysis method (SHAM) and the spectral relaxation method (SRM). SHAM uses the approach of Chebyshev pseudospectral alongside the homotopy analysis. The SRM uses the concept of Gauss-Seidel techniques to the linear system of equations.FindingsFindings revealed that a large value of the non-linear convective parameters for both temperature and concentration increases the velocity profile. A large value of the Williamson term is detected to elevate the velocity plot, whereas the Casson parameter degenerates the velocity profile. The thermal radiation was found to elevate both velocity and temperature as its value increases. The imposed magnetic field was found to slow down the fluid velocity by originating the Lorentz force.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper is to explore the heat and mass transfer effects on MHD non-Newtonian fluids flow through an inclined thermally-stratified porous medium. The model is formulated in an inclined plate and embedded in a thermally-stratified porous medium which to the best of the knowledge has not been explored before in literature. Two elegance spectral numerical techniques have been used in solving the modeled equations. Both SRM and SHAM were found to be accurate.