Stability Analysis of Magnetohydrodynamic Mixed Convection Flow and Heat Transfer over a Moving Flat Plate in Ferrofluids with Suction and Slip Effects

Abstract

This paper investigated the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) mixed convection flow and heat transfer over a moving flat plate in ferrofluids with suction, slip effects and constant heat flux. Using appropriate similarity variables, the governing partial differential equations are reduced to ordinary differential equations before being solved numerically by a shooting method with Maple implementation. The variations of the numerical solutions for the skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number, as well as the velocity and temperature profiles are obtained for pertinent parameters by considering two types of base fluids (water and kerosene) with three selected ferroparticles (magnetite, cobalt ferrite and manganese-zinc ferrite). It is found that triple solutions exist for both assisting and opposing flows. Also, the kerosene-based magnetite provides the highest heat transfer rate compared to the other two ferroparticles. The stability analysis is then carried out to test the stability of the non-uniqueness solutions by applying bvp4c solver in Matlab. Results from the stability analysis revealed that the first solution is stable and physically realizable while the second and third solutions are unstable and not physically realizable.KeywordsStability analysisMHDMixed convectionHeat transferMoving flat plateFerrofluidsSuctionSlip effects