Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633

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Results in Physics
journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/results-in-physics

Boundary layer flow of Maxwell fluid in rotating frame with binary

chemical reaction and activation energy
Z. Shafique a, M. Mustafa a,⇑, A. Mushtaq b
a
School of Natural Sciences (SNS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
b
Research Centre for Modeling and Simulation (RCMS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Here we study the heat/mass transfer effects on revolving flow of Maxwell fluid due to unidirectional
Received 30 August 2016 stretching surface. Mass transfer process is modeled in terms of binary chemical reaction and activation
Accepted 8 September 2016 energy. Modified Arrhenius function for activation energy is invoked. Traditional boundary layer approx-
Available online 16 September 2016
imations are utilized to simplify the governing equations. Using similarity method, self-similar form of
boundary layer equations are derived which are solved numerically. The solutions depend on dimension-
Keywords: less numbers such as the rotation parameter k, the Deborah number b, the Prandtl number Pr, the
Maxwell fluid
Schmidt number Sc, activation energy E, fitted rate constant n and temperature difference parameter d.
Activation energy
Chemical reaction
We found that the solute concentration in binary mixture is proportional to both rotation parameter k
Numerical solution and activation energy E. The reaction rate r and fitted rate n both provide reduction in the solute concen-
Rotating frame tration. Thermal boundary layer becomes thicker and heat transfer rate diminishes when fluid is sub-
Stretching sheet jected to a larger rotation rate.
Ó 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Introduction
Mass transfer is a natural phenomenon in many processes such
as absorption, vaporization and condensation in a mixture, diffu-
sion of nutrients in tissues, thermal insulation, cooling towers
and food processing, in absorbers such as activated carbon beds
and in the condensation process, dispersion of temperature/mois-
ture over groove fields and distillation of alcohol. Mass transfer
has relevance in most living-matter processes such as respiration,
nutrition, sweating etc. Mass transfer process with chemical reac-
tion has been given special attention in the past (see [1–6] and ref.
there in) because of its significance in chemical engineering,
geothermal reservoirs, nuclear reactor cooling and thermal oil
recovery. Bestman [7] was probably the first to study the boundary
layer flow involving the binary chemical reaction. He analytically
examined the effects of the activation energy on natural convec-
tion flow in a porous medium by using perturbation approach.
One of the factors that have an important role in chemical reaction
is the activation energy. It is defined as the least obligatory amount
of energy for atoms or molecules to bring themselves in a state in
which they can undergo a chemical reaction. The concept of activa-
tion energy is usually applicable in areas pertaining to geothermal
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: meraj_mm@hotmail.com (M. Mustafa).
or oil reservoir engineering and mechanics of water and oil emul-
sions. Activation energy can be realized as energy barrier that sep-
arates two minima of potential energy (of the reactants and
products of a reaction) which has to be overcome by reactants to
initiate a chemical reaction. Makinde et al. [8] presented the
numerical solution for unsteady convection flow over a flat porous
plate with nth order chemical reaction and Arrhenius activation
energy. The recent attempts in this direction were made by Male-
que [9,10] who investigated the influence of binary chemical reac-
tion with Arrhenius activation energy on mixed convection flows
and Awad et al. [11] who explored the unsteady revolving flow
due to impulsively stretched plate by means of spectral relaxation
method (SRM).
Steady and unsteady rotating flows have several noteworthy
applications in geophysical and chemical fluid dynamics. They
are also of applied significance in many areas such as in food pro-
cessing, in rotor–stator systems, in thermal-power generating sys-
tems, in rotating machinery and in the cooling of the skins of high
speed aircrafts. Wang [12] firstly explored the mathematical model
for the effects of rotation on fluid flow adjacent to a stretched plate.
In his work analytical solutions of velocity and temperature pro-
files were derived by perturbation approach. Effects of magnetic
field on rotating fluid flow on stretching plate were observed by
Takhar et al. [13]. Nazar et al. [14] employed similarity approach
to examine unsteady revolving flow by an impulsively stretching

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rinp.2016.09.006
2211-3797/Ó 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
628 Z. Shafique et al. / Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633

plate. Kumari et al. [15] considered the flow near a stretching plate
in revolving power-law and derived numerical approximations for
both pseudoplastic and dilatant type fluids. Local similarity solu-
tions for rotating viscous flow due to exponentially stretching plate
were obtained by Javed et al. [16] utilizing Keller-box method.
Zaimi et al. [17] considered a stretching surface immersed in rotat-
ing Walters’ B liquid. Mustafa [18] analytically studied the rotating
flow of viscoelastic fluid bounded by a stretching surface through
Cattaneo-Christov heat flux theory. Turkyilmazoglu [19] per-
formed a numerical study for MHD flow due to rotating shrinking
disk. In another attempt, Turkyilmazoglu [20] extended the tradi-
tional Bödewadt flow problem for uniformly stretching disk. His
numerical solution through collection method showed that radial
stretching of disk improves the cooling process in practical applica-
tions. Mustafa et al. [21] also studied the Bödewadt flow problem
Fig. 1. Physical configuration and coordinate system.
over a stretching disk utilizing nanofluids. Numerical simulations
for rotating flow of water containing ferromagnetic particles were 2 Ea
rp. The term kr ðT=T 1 Þn ekT is the modified Arrhenius function
reported by Mustafa et al. [22]. Rosali et al. [23] discussed the rota- 5 2
tional effects on flow past an exponentially shrinking sheet and [11] in which j ¼ 8:61  10 eV=K is the Boltzmann constant, kr
observed multiplicity of solutions in case of injection. Ahmad and the reaction rate and n the fitted rate constant generally lies in
Mustafa [24] performed a comparative study for revolving flow 1 < n < 1. In Eq. (2), S is the extra stress tensor for upper-
of nanofluids using two different thermal conductivity models convected Maxwell fluid which satisfies the following:
and convective conditions. Imtiaz et al. [25] explored the flow of DS
carbon nanotubes between radially stretching disks by a homo- S þ k1 ¼ lA1 ;
Dt
topic approach. An exact solution for flow simultaneously caused
by coaxially rotating stretchable disks was presented by Turkyil- in which k1 is the fluid relaxation time, A1 ¼ ðrVÞ þ ðrVÞt the first
mazoglu [26]. Rivlin–Ericksen tensor and D=Dt the upper-convected time deriva-
In this paper, we aim to explore the influences of binary chemical tive. Invoking the conventional boundary layer approximations,
reaction with activation energy on rotating flow of Maxwell fluid Eqs. (1)–(4) can be expressed in component forms as below:
over a stretchable surface. Coriolis and centrifugal effects attributed @u @ v @w
þ þ ¼ 0; ð5Þ
due to the fluid rotation are preserved in the mathematical model. @x @y @z
Using similarity approach, self-similar solutions for velocity, tem-
!
perature and concentration are developed. Graphical illustrations @u @u @u @2u
for velocity, temperature and concentration are presented to u þv þw  2Xv ¼ m
@x @y @z @z2
emphasize the physical effects of embedded parameters on the solu- 2 2 @2 u 3
u @x2 þ v 2 @@yu2 þ w2 @@z2u
2 2
tions. Numerical values of local Nusselt number and local Sherwood ð6Þ
number for a broad range of parameters are tabulated. 6 7
6 7
 k1 6 þ2uv @x@y
@2 u
þ 2v w @y@z
@2 u @2 u
þ 2uw @x@z 7;
4    5
Mathematical model 2X u @x þ v @y þ w @z þ 2X v @x  u @y
@v @v @v @u @u

Consider a three-dimensional flow of an incompressible Max- !

@v @v @v @2v
well fluid over an elastic surface located in the xy-plane. The fluid u þv þw þ 2Xu ¼ m
@x @y @z @z2
resides in the space z P 0. The surface is stretched in the x-
2 2 @2 v 3
direction with the linearly varying velocity of the form uw ðxÞ ¼ ax u @x2 þ v 2 @@yv2 þ w2 @@zv2
2 2
ð7Þ
which induces flow in the neighboring layers of the fluid. Let X 6 7
6 7
be the constant angular velocity of the rotating fluid. The surface  k1 6 þ2uv @x@y
@2 v
þ 2v w @y@z
@2 v @2 v
þ 2uw @x@z 7;
4    5
is kept at constant temperature T w and solute concentration at þ2X u @u @x
þ v @u
@y
þ w @u
@z
þ 2X v @v
@x
 u @v
@y
the surface is denoted by C w . Let T 1 and C 1 be the ambient values
of temperature and solute concentration respectively. Physical
@T @T @T @2T
sketch of the problem is shown in Fig. 1. Governing equations in u þv þw ¼a 2; ð8Þ
the presence of species chemical reaction with Arrhenius activa- @x @y @z @z
tion energy are expressed below (see Awad et al. [11] for details):
n
@C @C @C T
þv
2 Ea
r  V ¼ 0; ð1Þ u þw ¼ Dr2 C  kr ekT ðC  C 1 Þ: ð9Þ
@x @y @z T1
q ½ðV  rÞ V þ ðX  ðX  rÞÞ þ ð2X  VÞ ¼ rp þ r  S; ð2Þ The boundary conditions in the present problem are:
u ¼ ax; v ¼ 0; w ¼ 0; T ¼ T w ; C ¼ C w at z ¼ 0;
qcp ðV  rTÞ ¼ kr2 T; ð3Þ ð10Þ
u ! 0; v ! 0; T ! T 1; C ! C1 as z ! 1:

n
2 T Ea We introduce the following set of similarity variables involving
ðV  rCÞ ¼ Dr2 C  kr e jT ðC  C 1 Þ; ð4Þ
T1 dimensionless vertical distance g as
rffiffiffi
where k is the thermal conductivity, D the solute diffusivity, q the a pffiffiffiffiffiffi
fluid density, cp the specific heat and X ¼ ½0; 0; X the angular veloc-
g¼ 0
z; u ¼ axf ðgÞ; v ¼ axgðgÞ; w ¼  amf ðgÞ;
 
m
ity vector. The term X  ðX  rÞ ¼ r X2 r 2 =2 represents the cen- T  T1 C  C1
h¼ ; /¼ ; ð11Þ
Tw  T1 Cw  C1
trifugal force which is being balanced by the pressure gradient
 Z. Shafique et al. / Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633 629

1 Nux Shx
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ h0 ð0Þ; pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ /0 ð0Þ; ð19Þ
0.9 λ = 0.2 Rex Rex
0.8 where Rex ¼ ax2 =m is the local Reynolds number.
0.7

0.6 Numerical method

0.5
f’(η)

Here we deal with the numerical solutions of Eqs. (12)–(15)

0.4
with the conditions (16) by conventional shooting approach. We
0.3 convert Eqs. (12)–(16) into a system of first order equations by
β =0, 0.6, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8 0 00
0.2 writing f ¼ x1 ; f ¼ x2 ; f ¼ x3 ; g ¼ x4 ; g 0 ¼ x5 ; h ¼ x6 ; h0 ¼ x7 ; / ¼ x8 ;
0
0.1 / ¼ x9 . We obtain the following:
2 3 2 3
0 x01 x2
6 x0 7 6 x3 7
6 27 6 7
6 07 6  2    7
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 6 x3 7 6 x  x x  2kðx  bx x Þ  2bx x x = 1  bx 2
=2 7
η 6 7 6 2 1 3 4 1 5 1 2 3 1 7
6 x0 7 6 7
6 47 6 x5 7
6 0 7 6   2      7
0
Fig. 2. Effect of b on f ðgÞ. 6 x 7 ¼ 6 x2 x4  x1 x5 þ 2k x2 þ b x2  x1 x3 þ x24  2bx1 x2 x5 Þ 1  bx21 =2 7;
6 57 6 7
6 07 6 7
6 x6 7 6 x7 7
6 07 6 7
6x 7 6 Prx x 7
6 77 6 1 7 7
6 07 6 7
Eq. (5) is automatically satisfied and Eqs. (6)–(9) convert into 4 x8 5 4 x9 5
 n 
the following ordinary differential equations: x90
Sc r½1 þ dx6  exp½E=ð1 þ dx6 Þx8  x1 x9

000 00 02  0 0 00 2 000
ð20Þ
f þ ff  f þ 2k g  bfg þ b½2ff f  f f  ¼ 0; ð12Þ
with the following initial conditions
h  i h i 2 3 2 3
0 0 0 02 00 0 2
g 00 þ fg  f g  2k f þ b f  ff þ g 2 þ b 2ff g 0  f g 00 ¼ 0; ð13Þ x1 ð0Þ 0
6 x ð0Þ 7 6 1 7
6 2 7 6 7
6 7 6 7
1 00 6 x3 ð0Þ 7 6 u1 7
h þ f h0 ¼ 0; ð14Þ 6 7 6 7
6 7 6 7
Pr 6 x4 ð0Þ 7 6 0 7
6 7 6 7

6 x5 ð0Þ 7 ¼ 6 u2 7; ð21Þ
1 00 E 6 7 6 7
/ þ f /0  r½1 þ dhn exp  / ¼ 0; ð15Þ 6 7 6 7
Sc 1 þ dh 6 x6 ð0Þ 7 6 1 7
6 7 6 7
6 x7 ð0Þ 7 6 u3 7
6 7 6 7
subject to the transformed conditions 6 7 6 7
4 x8 ð0Þ 5 4 1 5
0
at g ¼ 0 : f ¼ g ¼ 0; f ¼ 1; h ¼ / ¼ 1; x9 ð0Þ u4
0 ð16Þ
as g ! 1 : f ! 0; g ! 0; h ! 0; / ! 0:  00
where ½u1 ; u2 ; u3 ; u4  ¼ f ð0Þ; g 0 ð0Þ; h0 ð0Þ; /0 ð0Þ . The first order sys-
where k ¼ X=a is the rotation parameter, b ¼ k1 a the Deborah tem (20) can be integrated numerically through fifth-order
number, Pr ¼ lcp =k the Prandlt number, Sc ¼ m=D the Schmidt Runge–Kutta method by assigning appropriate values to
number, E ¼ Ea =ðjT 1 Þ the non-dimensional activation energy, u1 ; u2 ; u3 and u4 . Newton–Raphson method is implemented to iter-
2 atively estimate these values. The whole process is repeated at dif-
d ¼ ðT w —T 1 Þ=T 1 the temperature difference parameter, r ¼ kr =a
the dimensionless reaction rate. ferent gmax say g ¼ 10; 11; 12; 13 until the solutions exponentially
Fourier law can be used to define local Nusselt number Nux and tend to free stream conditions with specified tolerance say 105 .
Fick’s law can be employed to define local Sherwood number Shx . The obtained solutions are found to be consistent with those from
These are as follows: the MATLAB built in routine bvp4c.
xqw xjw
Nux ¼ ; Shx ¼ ; ð17Þ Results and discussion
kðT w  T 1 Þ DðC w  C 1 Þ
where qw is the wall heat flux and jw is the wall mass flux given by In this section, our focus is to analyze the role of embedded
  parameters on the velocity, temperature and concentration pro-
@T  @C 
qw ¼ k  ; jw ¼ D  : ð18Þ 00
files. First of all, we compare our findings of f ð0Þ with those of pre-
@z z¼0 @z z¼0
viously published papers in absence of fluid rotation (see Table 1).
Now using Eq. (11) and Eq. (18), Eq. (17) becomes The results are found in very good agreement for all considered

Table 1
00
Comparison with f ð0Þ obtained by Abel et al. [27], Megahed [28] and Abbasi et al. [29] for different values of b in absence of fluid rotation, that is, k ¼ 0.

b Abel et al. [27] Megahed [28] Abbasi et al. [29] Present results
0.0 0.999962 0.999978 1.00000 1.000000
0.2 1.051948 1.051945 1.05189 1.051887
0.4 1.101850 1.101848 1.10190 1.101898
0.6 1.150163 1.150160 1.15014 1.150128
0.8 1.196692 1.196690 1.19671 1.196708
1.2 1.285257 1.285253 1.28536 1.285361
1.6 1.368641 1.368641 1.36873 1.368756
2.0 1.447617 1.447616 1.44781 1.447648
630 Z. Shafique et al. / Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633

values of Deborah number b. Fig. 2 preserves the influence of Deb-
orah number b on the velocity field f0 when k ¼ 0:2. The profiles
indicate a decreasing trend in f0 for increasing values of b. It means
that fluid motion in the x-direction is opposed by the viscoelastic
effects. For larger values of b, the profiles of f0 tend to zero at smal-
1 interesting oscillatory behavior in f0 is observed for large k which
0.9
β = 0.5
ler distances above the sheet. In smaller Deborah number fluid, vis-
cous effect is dominant compared to the elastic effect whereas the
fluid tends to behave as elastically solid material when Deborah
number enlarges. In Fig. 3, the influence of rotation parameter k
on the velocity in x-direction is observed. The rotational effects
tend to slow down the fluid motion in the x-direction. For smaller
k, the decrease in velocity field f0 with g is monotonic while an

0.8
1
0.7
0.9
Pr = 7, β = 0.5
0.6
0.8
0.5 λ = 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5,10 0.7
f’(η)

0.4 0.6
0.3 0.5

θ(η)
0.2 0.4 λ = 0.1, 2, 5, 10
0.1 0.3

0 0.2

−0.1 0.1

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0

η
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0
Fig. 3. Effect of k on f ðgÞ. η

Fig. 6. Effect of k on hðgÞ.

0.1
β=0 λ = 0.2 1
0.05 β = 0.6 λ = 0.2, β = 0.5
0.9
β = 1.2
β = 1.5 0.8
0
β = 1.8 0.7

−0.05 0.6
g(η)

0.5
θ(η)

−0.1 0.4 Pr = 0.71, 1.5, 3, 5, 10

0.3
−0.15
0.2

−0.2 0.1

0
−0.25
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
η η

Fig. 4. Effect of b on gðgÞ. Fig. 7. Effect of Pr on hðgÞ.

1
σ = 5, Pr = 7 , n = 0.5, Sc = .25,
β=0 0.9
E = 5, δ = 1
0.25
β = 0.5 0.8

0.7

0.2 0.6
λ = 0.1, 2, 5, 10
Nu /(Re ) /2
1

0.5
φ(η)
x

0.15
0.4
λ = 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5
x

0.3
0.1
0.2

0.1
0.05
0

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Pr η
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Fig. 5. Effect of Pr and k on Nux = Rex for b ¼ 0 and b ¼ 0:5. Fig. 8. Effect of k on /ðgÞ.
 Z. Shafique et al. / Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633 631

is due to the rotational effects. Fig. 4 shows the profiles of g for var- the sheet. It is observed that the local Nusselt number approaches
ious values of Deborah number b with k ¼ 0:2. The negative value zero for vanishing Prandtl number Pr and it increases upon increas-
of g reveals that flow is solely in the negative y-direction. For a lar- ing Pr. It is also clear that local Nusselt number has inverse rela-
ger value of k, the oscillations in the profile of g analogous to those tionship with k. It means that the heat transfer rate reduces
of f0 are observed. when fluid is subjected to a larger rotation rate. In Fig. 6 we have
Fig. 5 is presented to analyze the influence of rotation on the plotted temperature field h for different values of parameter k.
local Nusselt number which determines the heat transfer rate from Temperature h increases and thermal boundary layer becomes
thicker upon increasing the parameter k. Physically it is attributed
1 to the fact that the larger rotation parameter k gives larger kinetic
λ = 0.2, σ = 5, Pr = 7, n = 0.5, energy to the fluid which enhances its temperature. Fig. 7 shows
0.9
Sc = 1, δ = 1 the relation between Prandtl number Pr and temperature h. Larger
0.8 Prandtl number implies weaker thermal diffusivity that leads to
0.7 thinner penetration depth of temperature.
0.6
In Fig. 8, the effects of rotation parameter k on the concentration
profile /(g) have been shown. It depicts that concentration bound-
0.5
ary layer thickness grows when angular velocity X is increased.
φ(η)

0.4 E= 0, 1, 2 , 3, 5 Concentration profiles for various values of dimensionless activa-

0.3 tion energy E have been plotted in Fig. 9. It reveals that increasing
the dimensionless activation energy causes the thickening of the
0.2
concentration boundary layer. This is because low temperature
0.1 and high activation energy leads to smaller reaction rate constant
0 and thus slow down the chemical reaction. Consequently, the con-
centration of the solute increases. Fig. 10 shows the variation in
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 solute concentration with the variation in temperature difference
η parameter d. It is observed that solute concentration / is a decreas-
Fig. 9. Effect of E on /ðgÞ.
ing function of d. This implies that concentration boundary layer

1 1

λ = 0.2, σ = 5, Pr = 2, n = 0.5, λ = 0.2, Pr = 7, n = 0 .5, Sc = 1,

0.9
Sc = 0.5, E = 1 E = 1, δ = 1
0.8 0.8

0.7
0.6
0.6
σ = 0, 1, 2, 5
φ(η)

0.5
φ(η)

δ = 0, 1, 3, 7 0.4
0.4

0.3
0.2
0.2

0.1
0
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 η
η
Fig. 12. Effect of r on /ðgÞ.
Fig. 10. Effect of d on /ðgÞ.

1
1
λ = 0.2, σ = 5, Pr = 7, n = 0.5,
0.9
0.9
λ = 0.2 , Pr = 1, σ = 5, Sc = 0.5, E = 1, δ = 1
0.8
0.8 δ = 1, E= 1
0.7 0.7

0.6 0.6

0.5 0.5
φ(η)
φ(η)

0.4 n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 5 0.4

0.3 0.3 Sc = 0.25, 0.75, 1.5, 3

0.2 0.2

0.1 0.1

0 0

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

η η

Fig. 11. Effect of n on /ðgÞ. Fig. 13. Effect of Sc on /ðgÞ.

632 Z. Shafique et al. / Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633

Table 2
δ=1 Pr = 7, Sc = 1, β = 0.5 Numerical values of local Nusselt number h0 ð0Þ for various values of k; Pr and b.
n = 0.5, λ = 0.2
0.6 δ=3 k b Pr h0 ð0Þ
σ = 0, 1, 3, 5
0.2 0.5 1 0.51903
0.5
1.0 0.34237
Sh /(Re )1/2

1.5 0.27827
0.4 2.0 0.23746
x

0.2 0.2 1 0.54670

0.3 0.4 0.52809
x

0.6 0.51009
0.8 0.49255
0.2 0.2 0.5 2 0.85109
5 1.51553
0.1 7 1.84540
10 2.26033
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Table 3
E Numerical values of local Sherwood number /0 ð0Þ for different values of Sc; k; E and
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi r.
Fig. 14. Effect of E and r on Shx = Rex for d ¼ 1 and d ¼ 3.
Sc k E r /0 (0)
1 0.2 1 1 0.95064
3 1.80760
1
5 2.40990
Sc = 1 E = 1, σ = 5, δ = 1, 8 3.12064
0.9 Sc =3 Pr = 7, β = 0.5 1 0.1 1 1 0.95576
1 0.90663
0.8 2 0.88791
3 0.88577
Shx/(Rex) /2

0.7 1 0.2 2 1 0.75333

1

4 0.58015
0.6 6 0.53528
8 0.52368
0.5 0.2 0.2 1 1.5 0.43149
2.0 0.49336
2.5 0.54928
0.4
3 0.60083

0.3
n = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5
0.2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
λ x
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Fig. 15. Effect of k and n on Shx = Rex for Sc ¼ 1 and Sc ¼ 3.
thickness increases when difference between wall and ambient
temperature enlarges. Figs. 11 and 12 are prepared to observe
the influence of fitted rate constant n and reaction rate r on
solute concentration / respectively. It can be observed that an
increase in either n or r results in an increase in the factor
r(1 + dh)n exp(E/1 + dh). This eventually favors the destructive
chemical reaction due to which concentration rises. The reduction
in / is accompanied with a larger concentration gradient at the
wall. The effects of Schimdt number Sc on concentration profile
can be noticed from Fig. 13. It illustrates the thinning of concentra-
tion boundary layer when Sc is increased. Physically, an increase in
Schmidt number Sc corresponds to lower solute diffusivity which
results in shorter penetration depth of concentration.
Plots of local Sherwood number Re1=2 x Shx versus activation
energy at different values of reaction rate constant have been
included in Fig. 14. There is a decrease in as E increases and this
decrease is pronounced when larger values of r are employed. It
means that mass flux from the sheet is smaller when chemical
reaction requires larger activation energy. Fluid rotation rate
seems to have a mild influence on the wall mass flux for any pre-
scribed values of n and Sc (see Fig. 15). The magnitude of Re1=2
x Shx
is increased when Schmidt number Sc is varied from Sc = 1 to
Sc = 3.
Tables 2 and 3 are presented to observe the trends in wall heat
and mass transfer rates with the variation in embedded
parameters. Table 2 shows that magnitude of local Nusselt number
0.8 1 Re1=2 Nux decreases as the rotation parameter k and Deborah num-
ber b increase while it significantly grows as Prandtl number Pr
increases. In other words, fluid rotation and viscoelasticity have
adverse impact on the cooling process of the sheet. Table 3 indi-
cates a sharp growth in local Sherwood number Re1=2
x Shx when
either Schmidt number Sc or reaction rate constant r is incre-
mented. Schmidt number compares the momentum diffusion to
mass diffusion. Thus concentration boundary layer becomes thin-
ner and mass transfer rate augments when Sc increases.
Concluding remarks
A mathematical model is analyzed to investigate the conse-
quences of Arrhenius activation energy and binary chemical reac-
tion on the flow of Maxwell fluid in a rotating frame. Numerical
solutions are developed by shooting method. The key observations
of this work are outlined below:
1. Velocities in the x- and y-directions decrease as fluid relaxation
time k1 increases. Also, wall heat flux reduces upon increasing
the fluid relaxation time k1 .
2. Hydrodynamic boundary layer thins when rotation parameter k
is incremented. An oscillatory behavior in both x- and y-
components of velocity is observed when rotation parameter
k is sufficiently large.
3. The vertical component of velocity at far field decreases when
either Deborah number b or rotation parameter k is increased.
4. Thermal boundary layer significantly grows when fluid rotates
at larger angular velocity. This growth is accompanied with a
reduction in wall slope of temperature and eventually the local
Nusselt number.
 Z. Shafique et al. / Results in Physics 6 (2016) 627–633
5. Solute concentration / increases and wall mass flux reduces
when a larger rotation parameter k is employed.
6. Activation energy E enhances the solute concentration and
reduces wall mass flux. This reduction grows further when dif-
ference between wall and ambient temperatures is increased.
7. Solute concentration / is found to reduce when reaction rate
constant r enlarges. Concentration / is also inversely propor-
tional to the temperature differences.
8. Schmidt number Sc decreases the solute concentration and sup-
ports the mass transfer rate from the wall.
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