A numerical study of heat and mass transfer in non-Newtonian nanofluid models.
Loading...
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
A theoretical study of boundary layer flow, heat and mass transport in non-Newtonian
nanofluids is presented. Because of the diversity in the physical structure and properties of
non-Newtonian fluids, it is not possible to describe their behaviour using a single constitutive
model. In the literature, several constitutive models have been proposed to predict the behaviour
and rheological properties of non-Newtonian fluids. The question of interest is how
the fluid physical parameters affect the boundary layer flow, and heat and mass transfer in
various nanofluids.
In this thesis, nanofluid models in various geometries and subject to different boundary
conditions are constructed and analyzed. A range of fluid models from simple to complex
are studied, leading to highly nonlinear and coupled differential equations, which require
advanced numerical methods for their solution.
This thesis is a conjoin between mathematical modeling of non-Newtonian nanofluid flows
and numerical methods for solving differential equations. Some recent spectral techniques
for finding numerical solutions of nonlinear systems of differential equations that model fluid
flow problems are used. The numerical methods of primary interest are spectral quasilinearization,
local linearization and bivariate local linearization methods. Consequently, one of
the objectives of this thesis is to test the accuracy, robustness and general validity of these
methods.
The dependency of heat and mass transfer, and skin friction coefficients on the physical
parameters is quantified and discussed. Results show that nanofluids and physical parameters
have an important and significant impact on boundary layer flows, and on heat and mass
transfer processes.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.