Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

MHD Stagnation Point Flow in a Boundary Layer Of a Nano Fluid Over a

Stretching Sheet in the Presence of Viscous Dissipation and Chemical Reaction
Ch. Achi Reddy 1,a & B. Shankar 2
1 M.L.R. Institute of Technology, Dundigal, Hyderabad, 500 043, India
2 Professor, Department of Mathematics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, 500 007, India
a achireddy.ch@gmail.com
DOI 10.13140/RG.2.1.2022.4881

Keywords: boundary layer flow, exponentially stretching sheet, chemical reaction and viscous dissipation.

ABSTRACT. The paper shows an attempt of numerical investigation on the effect of viscous dissipation and Chemical
reaction on a viscous, steady and incompressible fluid over an exponentially stretching sheet within a specified boundary
layer. As a formal approach, the model has been adopted with the governing equations and the simulation is carried out
with the Keller Box method. The pattern or the profiles of the skin friction coefficient and the heat and mass transfer rates
are achieved in execution of mathematical model have been presented in the paper. The enhancement in magnetic
parameter leads to a considerable reduction in velocity and Chemical reaction parameter is predominant in controlling the
profile of concentration. An increase in Eckert number is observed to cause the enhancement in the temperature profile
whereas it decreases the concentration profile. The results obtained in the simulation of Keller box method are in well
agreement with realistic situation of the scientific scenario.

1. Introduction. The importance of stagnation point flow has drawn the attention of many researchers
due to its growing application in industry. The fluid is said to have reached its stagnation point when
local Velocity of the fluid becomes zero. In some situations, flow is stagnated by a solid wall while
in others; there is a line interior to a homogeneous fluid domain or the interface between two
immiscible fluids [1-3]. A good amount of research is done drawing the attention of several
researchers [4-12].
In 1993, during an investigation of new coolants and cooling technologies at Argonne National
Laboratory in U.S. Chai invented a new type of fluid called Nano fluid [13]. Nano fluids are fluids
that contain small volumetric quantities of nanometre sized particle, Called nanoparticles. The
nanoparticles used in Nano fluids are typically made of metals, oxides, carbides, or carbon nanotubes.
Common base fluids include water, ethylene glycol and oil. Nano fluids commonly contain up to a
5% volume fraction of nanoparticles to see effective heat transfer enhancements [25-27].
Nano fluids are studied because of their heat transfer properties: they enhance the thermal
conductivity and convective properties over the properties of the base fluid. Typical thermal
conductivity enhancements are in the range of 15-40% over the base fluid and heat transfer coefficient
enhancements have been found up to 40%.Increasing the thermal conductivity of this magnitude
cannot be solely attributed to the higher thermal conductivity of the added nanoparticles, and there
must be other mechanisms attributed to the increase in performance [28-29].
Stagnation point flow appears in virtually all fields of science and engineering. A flow can be
stagnated by a solid wall or a free stagnation point or a line can exist in the interior of the fluid
Domain. The study of stagnation point flow as pioneered by Hiemenzin 1911 [15] who solved the
two dimensional stagnation point problem using a similarity transformation.

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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

Magyari and Keller [16] investigated the steady boundary layers flow on a stretching continuous
surface with exponential temperature distribution while Partha et al. [17] analysed the effects of
viscous dissipation on the mixed convection heat transfer from an exponentially stretching surface.
In the present study we have investigated the viscous dissipation for different values of velocity ratio
parameter and observed that the nanoparticle volume decreases with the increase of chemical reaction
parameter for = 0.1 and 2.1.
2. Mathematical Formulation. Consider a steady, two-dimensional boundary layer stagnation-point
ow of a Nano uid over an exponentially stretching sheet, the stretching and free stream velocities
are assumed to be of the forms u w ( x) ae x/l , and u ( x) be x/l , respectively. Where a > 0 and b are
constants, x is the coordinate measure along the stretching surface and l is length of the sheet. A nonuniform transverse magnetic eld of strength B( x) B0 e x/ 2l is imposed parallel to the y-axis, where
Bo is a uniform magnetic eld strength. It is assumed that the induced magnetic eld due to the
motion of an electrically conducting eld is negligible. Further, it is also assumed that the external
electric eld is zero and the electrical eld due to polarization of charges is negligible [22].
Figure (1) shows that the temperature T and the Nano-particles fraction C take forms T(x) and
C(x), respectively whereas the ambient values of temperature T and Nano-particle fraction C are
obtained when y tends to innity.

Fig. 1. Physical ow model and coordinate system.

The governing boundary layer equations of the conservation Law of mass, momentum, energy and
concentration in the ow as follows:

u v

0
x y

(1)

u
u
du u 2u B 2 ( x)
u u ,
u
v
u

x
y
dx f y 2
f

(2)

T
T
2T
1 q r
C T DT T

u
v
2
DB

x
y
( c) f y
y y T y
y

u

( c p ) f y

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(3)

Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

C
C
2C D 2T
v
DB 2 T
C C
x
y
y
T y 2

(4)

Here u and v are the velocity components in the x and y directions respectively,
is the viscosity;
is the density of the base eld;
is the electrical conductivity.

,
c f

where k is the thermal conductivity;

c f is the heat capacitance of the base fluid.

c p
c f

where c p is the heat capacitance of the nanoparticle;

DB is the Brownian diusion coecient;
DT is the thermophoresis diusion coecient;
qr is the radiation ux.

The Rosseland approximation is dened as [23, 24];

4 * T 4
qr *
3k y

(5)

where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant;

k is the mean absorption coecient.
It is assumed that the temperature dierence between the free stream T and local temperature T is
small enough expanding T4 in a Taylor series about T and neglecting higher order terms results.

T 4 4T3T 3T4
After substituting Eqs. (5) and (6) in Eq. (3), it will be reduces to

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(6)

Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

16 * T3
T
T
v

x
y
3 * ( c) f

2T
2
y

C T D T 2

DB
T
y y T y ( c p ) f

u

y

(7)

The subjected boundary conditions are

u u ( x) ae x/l , v 0, T T ( x), C C ( x),

at
y 0

x/l
u u ( x) be , v 0, T T , C C , as
y

(8)

The prescribed temperature and concentration on the surface of the sheet is assumed to be
T(x) = T + T0ex/2l and C(x) = C + C0ex/2l where T0, C0 are the reference temperature and
concentration respectively, now, the non-linear partial dierential equations for the purpose of a
stream function = (x,y) is dened as

,
,v
y
x

(9)

where the continuity Eq. (1) is satised identically. A similarity transformation is dened as [20]
follows

2la e x / 2l f ( ), ( )
C C
( )
,
C C

T T
T T

y a / 2l e

(10)
x / 2l

As such Eq. (10), Eqs. (2), (4) and (7) reduce to the following system of nonlinear ordinary dierential
equations.

f ff 2 f 2 2 2 M ( f ) 0

pr N f f Nb Nt 2 EC f 2 0

(11)
(12)

Lef Lef Ntb Le 0

(13)

2lB02
ap f

(14)

where

b / a,

pf

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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

Nb
Nt

DT (T T )
vT

DB ( C C )

2lk
u2
,
,
, EC
u
(Cp) f (T T )

where, prime denote the dierentiation with respect to , B is the velocity ratio parameter;
v is the kinematic viscosity of the uid;
Pr is the Prandtl number;
Le is the Lewis number;
M is the magnetic parameter;
A is the heat source parameter,
S is the suction parameter.

PrN

1
Pr

4
1 N ,
3

where
N

4 * T3
is the radiation parameter,
kk *

Ntb

Nt
,
Nb

where Nb is the Brownian motion parameter and Nt is the thermophoresis parameter;

Ec Eckert number;
is chemical reaction parameter;
The corresponding boundary conditions Eq. (8) are transformed into
f ( ) 0, f ( ) 1, ( ) 1, ( ) 1 at
f ( ) , ( ) 0, ( ) 0
as

0,

(15)

The parameters of practical interest in the formulated problem are velocity, heat and mass transfer
respectively, which are presented in terms of Skin friction Cf, Nusselt number Nu and Sherwood
numbers Sh. Using the transformed variables (10), the non-dimensional expressions for the Skin
friction coecient C fx (0) f (0) , the reduced Nusselt number (0) and the reduced Sherwood
number (0) respectively are dened as;
Skin friction Coecient. The Skin friction coecient C f is dened by

Cf

1
pU 2
2

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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

where is the local wall Shear stress;

is the uid density.
Re x C f f (0)

Nusselt Number. In heat transfer at a boundary within a uid, the Nusselt number (Nu) is the ratio
of convection to conductive heat transfer across the boundary

Nu x

xq
convective heat tran sfer

conductive heat tran sfer K(T -T )

(16)

Nu x
( 0 )
Re x

Sherwood Number. The Sherwood number (Sh) is also called the mass transfer Nusselt number. It
represents the ratio of convective to diusive mass transport

Shx

xJ
Convective mass Transfer coeff icient

Diffusive mass Transfer coeffi cient

DB(C -C )
Shx
( 0 )
Re x

x
where Re x u(x) is the local Reynolds number based on the stretching velocity.
v

3. Numerical Procedure. The equations (11) - (14) subject to the boundary conditions (15) are solved
numerically using an implicit nite - dierence scheme known as Keller box method. The method
has the following four basic steps.
1. Reduce equations (11) - (14) to rst order equations.
2. Write the dierence equations using central dierences.
3. Linearize the resulting algebraic equations by Newtons method and write them in matrix -vector.
4. Use the Block - tridiagonal elimination technique to solve the linear system.
4. Results and Discussion.

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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

Table 1. Comparison of the reduced Nusselt number (0) when Nb Nt Le 0

[19]

[20]

[21]

Present results

Pr

(0)

(0)

(0)

(0)

0.9548

0.9548

0.9548

0.9548

1.4714

1.4714

1.4714

1.4715

1.8691

1.8691

1.8691

1.8692

1.0

0.5315

0.5312

0.5312

0.5311

1.0

---

0.8611

0.8611

0.8611

1.0 1.0

---

0.4505

0.4505

0.4505

Table 2. Values of the reduced Nusselt number (0) , reduced Sherwood number (0) , and the
skin friction coefficient C fx (0) for various values of Eckert number.
Nb = Nt = M = = = 0.1
Ec

Le

(0)

(0)

C fx (0)

0.1

10

1.0

0.5176

3.6996

1.2856

0.2

10

1.0

0.4976

3.7107

1.2856

0.3

10

1.0

0.4776

3.7219

1.2856

0.4

10

1.0

0.4375

3.7442

1.2856

Table 3. Values of the reduced Nusselt number (0) , reduced Sherwood number (0) , and the
skin friction coefficient C fx (0) for various values of Chemical Reaction parameter.
Nb = Nt = M = = EC= 0.1

Pr

Le

(0)

(0)

C fx (0)

0.1

1.00

10

1.0

0.5176

3.6996

1.2856

0.2

1.00

10

1.0

0.5175

3.8407

1.2856

0.3

1.00

10

1.0

0.5174

3.9757

1.2856

0.4

1.00

10

1.0

0.5172

4.1055

1.2856

The system of ordinary differential equations [11-13] has been solved numerically using Keller-box
method. From the numerical computation, the main physical quantities of interest namely the local
Skin friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number are obtained and
the results are presented in Table 2 and Table 3.
From Table 2 it is observed that with the increase in Eckert number, there is a decrease in rate of heat
transfer and increase in mass transfer.
From Table 3 it is observed that with increase in chemical reaction parameter, there is no significant
change in rate of heat transfer but there is an increase in the rate of mass transfer.
Figure 2 shows the effects of the magnetic Parameter M on the flow field velocity f ( ) for three
different values of the Velocity ratio parameter , =0.1, 1 and 2.1.
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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

Fig.2. Velocity profile against for different values of M

When =0.1 the velocity profile and the boundary layer thickness decrease with an increase in M.
When =2.1, higher value of the Lorentz force further reduces the velocity and consequently the
thickness of boundary layer reduces. When =1, there is no influence of magnetic field f ( ) and
f ( ) attains a constant value of 1 for any value of indicating that there is no boundary layer of
fluid, as shown by a dotted line in Fig 2. This means that in the case when the external stream velocity
becomes equal to the stretching velocity. The flow is not influenced by the different values of the
incorporated flow parameters. When =2.1 the flow velocity increases indicating the decrease in
thickness of boundary layer with an increase in M. As compared to =0.1case, the boundary layer
thickness decreases causing an inverted boundary structure.

Fig. 3. Temperature profile against for different values of Ec

Figure 3 shows an increase in Nano fluid Temperature with increases in the viscous dissipation
parameter, Eckert number. Which can be attributed to the action of viscous heating. Concentration
increases with an increase in the viscous dissipation parameter, Eckert number as shown in Fig. 4

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Mechanics, Materials Science & Engineering, May 2016 ISSN 2412-5954

Fig. 4. Concentration profile against for different values of Ec

Fig. 5. Concentration profile against for different values of

The influence of chemical reaction parameter on concentration profile is shown in Fig. 5.
Concentration decreases with an increase in the chemical reaction parameter indicating that the
nanoparticle volume fraction decreases with the increase of chemical reaction parameter, while effect
chemical reaction parameter is not significant on the temperature profile.

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Fig. 6. Temperature profile profile against for different values of N

Summary. A numerical study corresponding to the flow and heat transfer in a steady flow region of
Nano fluid over an exponential stretching surface and effects of Chemical reaction parameter and
Eckert number are examined and discussed in detail. The main observations of the present study are
as follows.
(I) An increase in the magnetic parameter is to reduce the velocity profile;
(II) An increase in the Eckert number increases the temperature profile while it reduces the
concentration profile;
(III)With increasing values of Chemical reaction parameter () the concentration profile decreases.
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