Unsteady micropolar nanofluid flow past a variable riga stretchable surface with variable thermal conductivity

Heliyon. 2023 Dec 12;10(1):e23590. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23590. eCollection 2024 Jan 15.

Abstract

In this study, we considered the flow of a micropolar fluid over a vertical Riga sheet. The non linear stretching sheet is considered. The effects of variable thermal conductivity and radiation on the Riga sheet are taken into account. Additionally, we also debated the Brownian motion and thermophoretic. To simplify the partial differential equations, we converted them into dimensionless ordinary differential equations using suitable similarity variables and solved dimensionless system numerically using the bvp4c function. The impact of some intended parameters on the dimensionless velocity, microrotation, temperature, and concentration distributions graphically are presented and the numerical outcomes of physical quantities like skin friction, Nusselt number, Sherwood number, and couple stress have been presented in tabular form. The micropolar parameter increased which increased the couple stress and friction at surface. Because, the fluid rotation increased which increased friction at surface and also increased the couple stress. The transfer of mass decayed and transfer of heat heightened by larger values of variable thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity improved which improved the heat transfer phenomena, so transfer of heat at surface becomes larger while also reducing the transfer of mass.

Keywords: Micropolar nanofluid; Nonlinear stretching surface; Riga plate; Variable thermal conductivity.