Analysis of unsteady MHD Williamson nanofluid flow past a stretching sheet with nonlinear mixed convection, thermal radiation and velocity slips

Abstract

This article examines the transient MHD convective flow with heat and mass transport of Williamson nanofluid over a stretching sheet in the presence of a chemical reaction. Velocity slips, convective heating and vanishing mass flux conditions at the surface are imposed. As a novelty, the effects of nonlinear thermal radiation, mixed convection, velocity slips and activation energy are incorporated. Such problems find significant applications in aircraft, missiles, gas turbines, etc. Similarity transformations are employed to convert controlling PDEs into a system of ODEs and the resulting nonlinear BVP is solved numerically using bvp4c. The
effects of various parameters on velocity, temperature and concentration distributions are demonstrated and depicted graphically. However, the numerical values of local skin friction coefficients, Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are tabulated and discussed. The graphs show that the nonlinear convection parameters, for both temperature and concentration, boost the primary flow. Higher values of the velocity slip parameters result in diminishing the flow. The fluid temperature rises as a result of both radiation
and convective heating. The activation energy improves the concentration profile within the boundary layer. The current findings would appeal to a broad audience in mechanical engineering, medical sciences, industrial engineering, etc.