Heat and mass transfer analysis for thin film lubricated flow of microbe-infused viscoelastic nanofluid

Abstract

Non-Newtonian materials are suggested as lubricants to maintain the high performances of various mechanical and industrial processes. Viscoelastic fluids as lubricants improve the mechanical and thermal processes. The objective of the current analysis is to highlight the significance of power-law viscoelastic lubricant in the flow of Walters B nanofluid in a moving frame. The role of higher-order slip as an interfacial constraint is studied for the lubrication phenomenon. Walters B nanofluid flow is a stagnation point flow. The Buongiorno nanofluid model is used to study the Brownian motion and thermophoresis size-dependent effects. The analysis is further updated by incorporating the bioconvective phenomenon with suspension of microbes. After modelling the problem successfully, it is shown that problem involved higher-order velocity slip conditions for which numerical computations cannot be performed. In order to treat such problems, an updated semi-analytical scheme called the hybrid homotopy analysis method (HHAM) is employed. Key focus is on the physical aspect of parameters. Current results have applications in polymers, lubrications, thermal systems, chemical processes, extrusion systems, etc.