Radiative heat transport and unsteady flow in an irregular channel with aggregation kinematics of nanofluid

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, an unsteady free convective heat transfer and the laminar flow of incompressible nanoliquid in a wavy channel subjected to the nanoparticles aggregation effects were studied. For the investigation, ethylene glycol‐based nanofluid with titania nanoparticles was used. Here, the role of the nanoparticle aggregation, thermal radiation, applied magnetic field, and internal heat absorption is examined. A semi‐analytical solution of the complicated partial differential equation is obtained by the method of regular perturbation. The effect of several parameters on velocity and temperature profile has been studied. In addition, Nusselt number (Nu) and skin friction are also examined and analyzed with the help of graphs. It has been observed that the velocity profile enhances with aggregation effect than without aggregation effect. The aggregation effects are minimal for smaller volume fraction of nanoparticles. A reverse trend near the wavy wall is visible for all parameters. The magnitude of velocity decreased as an effect of the applied magnetic field, while the magnitude of velocity increased due to radiative heat flux. Furthermore, the heat sink mechanism reduces the magnitude of the nanofluid temperature.