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Numerical solution for mixed convection boundary layer flow of a nanofluid along an inclined plate embedded in a porous medium. (English) Zbl 1268.76061
Comput. Math. Appl. 64, No. 9, 2816-2832 (2012); corrigendum ibid. 69, No. 12, 1518 (2015).
Summary: The steady mixed convection boundary layer flow of an incompressible nanofluid along a plate inclined at an angle $$\alpha$$ in a porous medium is studied. The resulting nonlinear governing equations with associated boundary conditions are solved using an optimized, robust, extensively validated, variational finite-element method (FEM) and a finite-difference method (FDM) with a local non-similar transformation. The Nusselt number is found to decrease with increasing Brownian motion number (Nb) or thermophoresis number (Nt), whereas it increases with increasing angle $$\alpha$$. In addition, the local Sherwood number is found to increase with a rise in Nt, whereas it is reduced with an increase in Nb and angle $$\alpha$$. The effects of Lewis number, buoyancy ratio, and mixed convection parameter on temperature and concentration distributions are also examined in detail. The present study is of immediate interest in next-generation solar film collectors, heat-exchanger technology, material processing exploiting vertical and inclined surfaces, geothermal energy storage, and all those processes which are greatly affected by a heat-enhancement concept.

##### MSC:
 76S05 Flows in porous media; filtration; seepage 76R10 Free convection 65M60 Finite element, Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin methods for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs 76M10 Finite element methods applied to problems in fluid mechanics
##### Keywords:
mixed convection; nanofluid; inclined plate; porous medium; FEM; FDM
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