Impact of thermal conductivity of a Williamson’s nanofluid flow due to a stretching sheet

Abstract

This paper intends to build a mathematical model of a two-dimensional Williamson nanofluid flow due to the stretching of a sheet linearly. The flow geometry is influenced by the magnetic field that is applied externally to the system. The induced magnetic field is infinitesimal and hence neglected. However, the flow structure is incorporated with the Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects as it alter the physics of the flow. The equations that model the flow comprise the highly nonlinear coupled simultaneous system. Thus, a numerical technique namely finite difference accompanied with the Thomas algorithm is adopted to approach the flow system. The motion, temperature, and concentration of the Williamson nanofluid flow are studied for the different flow controlling parameters. The co-efficient of skin-friction, heat, and mass transfer rates is also computed. The streamlines, isotherms, and iso-concentration are plotted to picturise the flow phenomena in the complete domain. The study reveals that the temperature of the flow raises with the Brownian motion of the nanoparticles and the trend is opposite with the concentration. The strength of the streamlines, isotherms, and the concentration contour is identified to be high for the least magnitude of Weissenberg number. The Brownian motion raises the heat transfer rate and slows down the mass transfer rate.