The Impact of Variable Viscosity and Variable Thermal Conductivity on the Mixed Convective Flow of Casson Nanofluid in a Channel with Chemical Reaction

Abstract

A theoretical analysis has been conducted on the mixed convective Casson nanofluid flow in a vertical channel that contains a first-order chemical reaction. The energy equation takes into account the combined effects of variable viscosity and variable thermal conductivity and the viscous dissipation. Nanofluids have different nanoparticles such as Aluminum oxide (), Copper (), Silver (), Titanium oxide () and Iron oxide () are suspended nanoparticles in water () and Ethylene Glycol () as base fluids. The governing equations are solved by perturbation method analytically like the momentum, energy, and diffusion equations, semi-numerically using differential transform method and numerically using BVP5C method. The obtained numerical values are agreed well for all the three methods and is shown in tabular form. For each of the several governing factors, the contours of velocity, temperature, and concentration are shown graphically. Additionally, data is tabulated for skin friction, Nusselt number. The results found that the silver nanoparticles enhance the thermal conductivity considerably in the flow. The variable viscosity regulates the flow while the variable thermal conductivity suppresses the flow.