Significance of Viscous Dissipation and Chemical Reaction on Convective Transport in a Boundary Layer Stagnation Point Flow Past a Stretching/Shrinking Sheet in a Nanofluid

In this study, the influence of the prominent viscous dissipation and chemical reaction effects on boundary layer stagnation point flow past a stretching/shrinking sheet in a nanofluid are presented. Both assisting and opposing flows are considered. In addition, the effects of Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis are incorporated in the nanofluid model. The nonlinear governing equations and their associated boundary conditions are initially cast into a dimensionless form of local similarity variables and hence solved numerically by an accurate implicit finite-difference method discussed by Blottner. The flow, heat transfer, mass transfer and nanoparticle concentration characteristics of the model are presented through graphs and the salient features are discussed for the various physical parameters. The present investigation shows that the viscous dissipation parameter enhance the velocity and temperature distributions, skin friction, mass and nanoparticle mass transfer rates for the aiding flow but reverse trend is noticed for the opposing flow. It is also noted that the heat, mass, and nanoparticle mass transfer rates are higher whereas skin friction are lower for the stretching parameter case when compared to the shrinking parameter case in both the aiding and opposing flows in the presence of combined viscous dissipation and chemical reaction effects.