Unsteady forced bioconvection slip flow of a micropolar nanofluid from a stretching/shrinking sheet

Abstract

The unsteady forced bioconvection boundary layer flow of a viscous incompressible micropolar nanofluid containing microorganisms over a stretching/shrinking sheet is studied numerically. A mathematical model, with the aid of appropriate transformations, is presented. The transformed non-linear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically by the Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg fourth- to fifth-order numerical method. The effect of the governing parameters on the dimensionless velocity, micro-rotation, temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction and microorganism as well as the local skin friction coefficient, the heat transfer rate and microorganisms transfer rate is thoroughly examined. The findings show that the value of skin friction and Nusselt number are decreased and microorganism number is increased as velocity slip, thermal slip and microorganism slip parameter are increased, respectively. Results from this investigation were compared with previous investigations demonstrating very good correlation. The present results are relevant to improving the performance of microbial fuel cells deploying nanofluids.