Mixed convective boundary layer flow over a vertical wedge embedded in a porous medium saturated with a nanofluid: entire regime

Abstract

A boundary layer analysis is presented for the mixed convection past a vertical wedge in a porous medium saturated with a nanofluid. The entire regime of the mixed convection is included since the mixed convection parameter of ξ varies from zero (pure free convection) to one (pure forced convection). The transformed non-linear system of equations is solved by using an implicit infinite difference method. Numerical results for friction factor, surface heat transfer rate and mass transfer rate have been presented for parametric variations of the buoyancy ratio parameter N_r, Brownian motion parameter N_b, thermophoresis parameter N_t and Lewis number Le. The dependency of the friction factor, surface heat transfer rate (Nusselt number) and mass transfer rate (Sherwood number) on these parameters has been discussed. The results indicate that as N_r and N_t increase, the heat transfer rate (Nusselt number) and mass transfer rate (Sherwood number) decrease. As N_b increases, the surface mass transfer rates increase whereas the surface heat transfer rate decreases. As Le increases, the heat transfer rate decreases whereas the mass transfer rate increases. As the wedge angle increases, the heat and mass transfer rates increase.