Optimization of heat transfer analysis on an aggregated nanofluid flow over a thin porous needle: Sensitivity analysis approach

Abstract

The main aim of this work is to investigate the impact of Thermophoresis and Brownian motion on the Darcy-Forchheimer nanofluid model with convective boundary across a thin moving needle. With a suitable similarity approach, the Partial differential equations are reduced to non-dimensional ordinary differential equations. Further, these ordinary differential equations are solved numerically via the Runge Kutta Fehlberg (RKF-45) method. The influence of the various dimensionless constraints on momentum, thermal, and concentration profiles is examined with/ without aggregation visually through graphs. The observation reveals that the velocity profiles decrease for increasing values of Forchhiemer number. It is found that elevating values of Brownian motion elevate both thermal and concentration profiles and augmented values of thermophoresis boost thermal profile whereas a declining trend is seen in concentration profile with a rise in thermophoresis parameter. The outcomes reveal that the Nusselt number increased more with nanoparticle aggregation compared to without nanoparticle aggregation for rising Forchhiemer number whereas same trend is witnessed in Sherwood number for increasing value of Lewis number. The results from the sensitivity analysis show that heat source/sink has a significant impact on Nusselt number. Employing nanofluids with optimal nanoparticle aggregation, the findings can be used to enhance the efficacy of heat management systems in various industrial sectors like automotive and electronics.