The boundary layer flow of nanofluids over an isothermal stretching sheet influenced by magnetic field.

Abstract

An analysis is carried out to study the effect of the magnetic field on the boundary layer flow of the nanofluids over an isothermal stretching surface. Two types of nanofluids namely Ag–water and Cu– water are considered. Similarity transformation is used to convert the governing nonlinear equations into coupled higher order nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Fourth-order Runge–Kutta method with shooting technique is employed for the numerical solution of the obtained equations. Numerical results are obtained for distribution of velocity, temperature and concentration, for both cases .The numerical results indicate that an increase in the nanoparticle volume fraction will decrease the velocity boundary layer thickness. Meanwhile, the presence of nanoparticles results in an increase in the magnitude of the skin friction along the surface. Such effects are found to be more evident in the Ag–water solution than in the Cu–water solution. The obtained numerical results have been presented graphically and discussed in details.