Mixed convection flow of a hybrid nanofluid past a vertical wedge with thermal radiation effect

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to numerically study the problem of mixed convection flow of a hybrid nanofluid past a vertical wedge with thermal radiation effect.Design/methodology/approachThe governing nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations by a similarity transformation, which is then solved numerically through the function bvp4c from MATLAB for different values of the governing parameters. The solutions contain a mixed convection parameter λ that has a considerable impact on the flow fields.FindingsIt is found that the solutions of the ordinary (similarity) differential equations have two branches, upper and lower branch solutions, in a certain range of the mixed convection and several other parameters. To establish which of these solutions are stable and which are not, a stability analysis has been performed. The effects of the governing parameters on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are illustrated in tables and figures. It is found that dual (upper and lower branch) solutions exist for both the cases of assisting and opposing flow situations. A stability analysis has also been conducted to determine the physical meaning and stability of the dual solutions.Practical implicationsThis theoretical study is significantly relevant to the applications of the heat exchangers placed in a low-velocity environment and electronic devices cooled by fans.Originality/valueThe case of mixed convection flow of a hybrid nanofluid past a vertical wedge with thermal radiation effects has not been studied before, and hence all generated numerical results are claimed to be original and novel.