On Cattaneo–Christov heat flux model for Carreau fluid flow over a slendering sheet

Abstract

The underlying intentions of this article are to investigate the impact of non-Fourier heat flux model on the stagnation-point flow of non-Newtonian Carreau fluid. In this study, the innovative Cattaneo–Christov constitutive model is introduced to study the characteristics of thermal relaxation time. The flow is impelled by a slendering surface which is of the variable thickness. In the model, the physical mechanism responsible for homogeneous–heterogeneous reactions are further taken into account. Also, the diffusion coefficients of the reactant and auto catalyst are considered to be equal. The governing non-linear partial differential equations consisting of the momentum, energy and concentration equations are reduced to the coupled ordinary differential equations by means of local similarity transformations. The transformed ODEs are tackled numerically by employing an effective shooting algorithm along with the Runge–Kutta Fehlberg scheme. The physical characteristics of the fluid velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are illuminated with the variation of numerous governing factors and are presented graphically. For instance, our result indicates that the temperature and thermal boundary layer thickness are lower in case of Cattaneo–Christov heat flux model when compared to classical Fourier’s heat model. Meanwhile, the rate of heat transfer is significantly improved by a high wall thickness parameter and an opposite influence is found due to the thermal relaxation parameter. We further noticed that a higher value of homogeneous and heterogeneous reaction parameter corresponds to a deceleration in the concentration field and it shows an inverse relation for the Schmidt number. A correlation with accessible results for specific cases is found with fabulous consent.