Investigation of heat transfer and viscous dissipation effects on the Jeffery-Hamel flow of nanofluids

Abstract

This article considers the influence of heat transfer on the nonlinear Jeffery-Hamel flow problem in a nanofluid. Analysis is performed for three types of nanoparticles namely copper Cu, alumina Al2O3 and titania TiO2 by considering water as a base fluid. The resulting nonlinear mathematical problems are solved for both analytic and numerical solutions. Analytic solution is developed by using differential transformation method (DTM) whereas the numerical solution is presented by Runge-Kutta scheme. A comparative study between the analytical and numerical solutions is made. Dimensionless velocity and temperature, skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number are addressed for the involved pertinent parameters. It is observed that the influence of solid volume fraction of nanoparticles on the heat transfer and fluid flow parameters is more pronounced when compared with the type of nanoparticles. It is also found that skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number for Al2O3 nanofluid is highest in comparison to the other two nanoparticles.