Influence of buoyancy force on Ag-MgO/water hybrid nanofluid flow in an inclined permeable stretching/shrinking sheet

The present work explored the heat transfer and boundary layer flow of a hybrid nanofluid past an inclined stretching/shrinking sheet with suction and buoyancy force effects. Silver (Ag) and magnesium oxide (MgO) are considered as the hybrid nanoparticles and suspended in water to form Ag-MgO/water hybrid nanofluid. The partial differential equations (PDEs) are converted into a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by employing appropriate similarity transformation. The simplified mathematical model is then solved numerically using the bvp4c solver in the MATLAB software. The effects of governing parameters, namely the inclination angle, suction, stretching/shrinking, buoyancy or mixed convection and nanoparticle volume fraction parameters on the velocity and temperature profiles as well as skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are examined and presented graphically. The results are proven to have two solutions for both stretching and shrinking case, which consequently lead to the implementation of a stability analysis, hence confirming that only the first solution is stable. In addition, the local Nusselt number increases when the angle of inclination and suction parameters increase. The results also reveal that increasing values of Ag nanoparticle volume fraction in MgO/water nanofluid declines the local Nusselt number.

Automated summary

This study investigated the heat transfer and boundary layer flow of a hybrid nanofluid on an inclined stretching/shrinking sheet, finding that the local Nusselt number increases with larger inclination angle and suction parameters, and decreases with higher silver nanoparticle volume fraction in the MgO/water nanofluid.