Comparative analysis of varied thermal conductivity and viscosity models in a hybrid nanofluid flow - a non-similar solution

We aim to investigate the flow of an ethylene glycol-based hybrid nanofluid over a horizontal surface with a free stream velocity. To assess the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanoparticles with various shapes, we employed the Brinkman, Timofeeva, and Yamada Ota unit cell models. The study explores heat transfer in the flow system considering the effects of viscous and ohmic dissipations, linear radiative heat flux, and heat generation under convective boundary conditions. A non-similar system is developed using appropriate non-similarity transformations up to the third-level truncation and numerically solved using the bvp4c algorithm. The novelty of the proposed model lies in obtaining the non-similar solution and incorporating the Brinkman, Timofeeva, and Yamada Ota unit cell models. The results indicated that the Brinkman viscosity model resulted in an increase in the wall heat transfer rate with a rise in particle volume fraction. It is also inferred that platelet-shaped nanoparticles exhibit a significantly higher heat transfer rate compared to spherical-shaped nanoparticles.