International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Shape effects of nanosize particles in Cu—H2 O nanofluid on entropy

generation
R. Ellahi a,b,⇑, M. Hassan b, A. Zeeshan b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Riverside, USA
b
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, FBAS, IIUI, Islamabad, Pakistan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, a mathematical model is analyzed in order to study the natural convection boundary layer
Received 15 May 2014 flow along an inverted cone. The shape of nanosize particles on entropy generation with based fluid is
Received in revised form 15 October 2014 considered. Simultaneous effects of porous medium, magnetohydrodynamics, radiation and power law
Accepted 16 October 2014
index effects are also taken into account. Hamilton–Crosser model is used for the effective thermal con-
ductivity. The nonlinear coupled equations under the assumption of Boussinesq approximation are
solved analytically. The calculations are performed for different governing parameters such as Prandtl
Keywords:
number, Rayleigh number, power law index, porosity parameter, radiation parameter and magnetic
Natural convection
Magnetohydrodynamic
parameter. The physical interpretations of obtained results are illustrated by graphs and tables. In addi-
Porosity tion, correlation of Nusselt number and skin friction corresponding to active parameters are also analyzed
Nanofluid in this investigation.
Entropy generation Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hamilton–Crosser model

1. Introduction conductivity ratio of a suspension is above about 100, the particle

Recent advances in nanotechnology have allowed development
of a new category of fluids termed as nanofluids [1]. A nanofluid
refers to the suspension of nanosize particles of dimension less
than 100 nm in the base fluid. The base fluid, or dispersing med-
ium, can be aqueous or non-aqueous in nature. Typical nanoparti-
cles are metals, oxides, carbides, nitrides, or carbon nanotubes.
Their shapes may be spheres, disks, or rods etc. [2]. The thermal
conductivities of different particles in liquid suspensions with
spherical and nonspherical particles are of great interest in various
engineering applications because of their high effective thermal
conductivities over base liquids at very low particle volume con-
centrations of nanoparticles [3–5]. The simplest model based on
the macroscopic effective medium theory was first developed by
Maxwell for a dilute suspension of non-interacting spherical parti-
cles [6]. This model shows that the effective thermal conductivity
of nanofluids depends on the thermal conductivities of the spher-
ical particle, thermal conductivity of base fluid and the volume
fraction of the solid particles. Further developments on nonspheri-
cal particle shapes are presented by Hamilton and Crosser [7].
Hamilton and Crosser showed that when the particle-to-liquid
⇑ Corresponding author at: Fulbright Fellow, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of California Riverside, USA.
E-mail addresses: rellahi@engr.ucr.edu, rahmatellahi@yahoo.com (R. Ellahi).
shape has a substantial effect on the effective thermal conductivity
of the suspension. Although the renovated Maxwell model is lim-
ited to suspensions with spherical particles, an important feature
of the Hamilton– Crosser model is that it can predict the effective
thermal conductivity of suspensions with nonspherical particles. In
addition to the differences in sample quality, another major cause
of the large discrepancies in the thermal conductivity is the fact
that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids depends on a great
number of parameters, some of which are coupled. Experimental
studies have shown that the thermal conductivity of nanofluids
is determined by parameters related to different nanoparticles,
concentration, size [8–10], shapes [11–14], agglomeration (frac-
tal-like shapes) [15–19], surface charge [20] base fluids and others.
The convective heat transfer mechanism of nanofluids through
porous medium has been the subject of many studies for a better
understanding of the associated transport processes. Studies on
natural convection using nanofluids are very limited and they are
related with different cones. Wide ranges of investigations have
been conducted by researchers in MHD natural convection. The
MHD effects on natural convection heat transfer in an enclosure
filled with nanofluid are studied by Sheikholeslami et al. [21]. Their
results indicated that Nusselt number is an increasing function of
buoyancy ratio number but it is a decreasing function of Lewis
number and Hartmann number. Sheikholeslami and Ganji [22]
investigated two phase modeling of nanofluid in a rotating system

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2014.10.041
0017-9310/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
450 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456

with permeable sheet. They found that Nusselt number has direct @T @T @2T 1 @q
relationship with Reynolds number and injection parameter while
u þv ¼ anf 2    : ð3Þ
@x @y @y qC p nf @y
it has reverse relationship with rotation parameter, Schmidt num-
ber, Thermophoretic parameter and Brownian parameter. Lattice The boundary conditions for the considered problem are
Boltzmann Method was used to investigate magnetohydrodynamic 
uðx; 0Þ ¼ 0; v ðx; 0Þ ¼ 0; uðx; 1Þ ¼ 0;
flow utilizing Cu-water nanofluid in a concentric annulus by ð4Þ
Sheikholeslami et al. [23]. Their results proved that enhancement T ðx; 0Þ ¼ T w ¼ T 1 þ axn ; T ðx; 1Þ ¼ T 1
ratio increases with decrease of Rayleigh number and it increases with n power law index for a thin boundary layer r ¼ x SinX. Fur-
with augment of Hartmann number. Some other numerical and ther, constant a > 0; g is the acceleration due to gravity, K is the
analytical studies on natural convection, heat transfer, porosity permeability, leffnf is the effective viscosity which is considered to
and magnetohydrodynamic can be found in the references be identical to dynamic viscosity lnf just as a matter of simplicity,
[24–30]. In short, the studies of combined effects of magneto- u and v are the velocity components along x and y axes respec-
hydrodynamics, radiation and porous media along a vertical cone tively. By using the Rossel approximation [36], the radiative heat
with nanofluid of different shapes of nanoparticles are yet not flux q can be written as
reported in the literature.
The present work reports the results of a particle shape factor 4r @T 4
on natural convection boundary-layer flow of a nanofluid over an
q¼  ð5Þ
3k @y
inverted vertical cone embedded in a porous medium in the pres- 
ence of magnetohydrodynamics, radiation and power law index where r is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and k is the mean
effects. Effects of Bejan number and entropy generation analysis absorption coefficient. It is assumed that the temperature differ-
are also presented in this study. Homotopy analysis method ences within the flow are small, so that the term T 4 may be
proposed by Liao [31] is used in order to obtain the analytical expressed as a linear function of temperature. Hence by expanding
solutions. This method has been also very successfully applied Taylor’s series of T 4 about T 1 and neglecting higher-order terms, we
for other problems [32–35] of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. obtain

T 4  4T 31 T  3T 41 : ð6Þ
2. Problem description
For nanofluid, the effective density qnf , the effective dynamic vis-
 
We consider the origin of the coordinate system to be at the cosity lnf , the capacitance qC p nf and the thermal diffusibility
vertex of inverted cone, x-axis and y-axis are the Cartesian coordi- anf are defined as
nates along and normal to the surface of cone, respectively and X is
qnf ¼ ð1  /Þqf þ /qs ; ð7Þ
semi-angle as shown in Fig.1.
The surface of the cone is subject to a non-uniform temperature
T w > T 1 , where T 1 is the ambient temperature. We consider water ðqbÞnf ¼ ð1  /ÞðqbÞf þ /ðqbÞs ; ð8Þ
based nanofluid containing copper (Cu) nanoparticles of different
shapes likes platelets, cylinders and bricks. Under the Boussinesq lf knf
lnf ¼ ; anf ¼   ; ð9Þ
approximation, the governing equations can be written as: ð1  /Þ2:5 qC p nf

@ @      
ðruÞ þ ðr v Þ ¼ 0; ð1Þ qC p ¼ ð1  /Þ qC p f þ / qC p s : ð10Þ
@x @y nf

  Here, / is the solid volume fraction, lf is the dynamic viscosity bf is

@u @u @2u lnf
qnf u þv ¼ leffnf 2 þ ðqbÞnf g ðT  T 1 Þ  u  r2 b2 u; the thermal expansion coefficients, bs is the nanoparticle, qf is the
@x @y @y K
density of basic fluid qs is the density of and nanoparticle.
ð2Þ When the thermal conductivity of the particles is over 100
times larger than that of the base fluid ðkp =kf > 100Þ then the ther-
mal conductivity in view of macroscopic effective medium theory
known as Maxwell model and Hamilton–Crosser model for irregu-
lar particle geometries by introducing a shape factor can be
expressed as
 
knf ks þ ðm þ 1Þkf  ðm þ 1Þ/ kf  ks
¼   ; ð11Þ
kf ks þ ðm þ 1Þkf þ / kf  ks

in which ks and kf are the conductivities of the particle material and

the base fluid. In this Hamilton–Crosser model, m is shape factor
given by 3=w (is the sphericity defined as ratio between the surface
area of the sphere and the surface area of the real particle with
equal volumes). When one choose shape factor m ¼ 3 , then the
Hamilton-Crosser model reduces to the Maxwell model for spheri-

Table 1
The values of Sphericity and shape factor of different shapes of nanoparticles [37].

Nanoparticles shapes Aspect ratio Sphericity ðwÞ Shape factor (m)

Platelet 1:1/8 0.52 5.7
Cylinder 1:8 0.62 4.9
Brick 1:1:1 0.81 3.7
Fig. 1. Schematic sketch of vertical cone.
 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456 451

cal particle mixtures. For different shapes of nanoparticles, the val-

ues of sphericities are given in the following Table 1.
The thermal conductivities knf of copper nanofluids with differ-
ent particle shapes measured at temperature (20  C) are presented
as a function of nanoparticle volume fraction /. The thermal con-
ductivity enhancement which is defined as knf =kf ratio, where
kf is the thermal conductivity of the base liquid ðH2 OÞ. At tested
particle concentrations thermal conductivity of nanofluids linearly
increases with increase in nanoparticle volume fraction. It is also
observed that the suspensions of particles with high shape factor
should have higher thermal conductivities according to said model
of conductivity as shown in Fig. 2.
Introducing the dimensionless stream function wðx; yÞ such that

1 @w 1 @w
u¼ ; v ¼ : ð12Þ
r @y r @x

Using the dimensionless variables

1 1
9
g ¼ yx G4rx ; w ¼ mf rG4rx f ðgÞ; hðgÞ ¼ TTT 1
; =
w T 1
1 1     0  ;: ð13Þ
mf 0 m
u¼ x
G2rx f ; v ¼  xf G4rx nþ7 4
f þ n1
4
gf
Eqs. (1)–(4) take the forms Fig. 3. Effects of volume-fraction of nanoparticles on velocity profile when

   
2 lnf  000 0 3 K ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; n ¼ 1.
n þ 1 02 n þ 7 00 1 lf f  Kf
f  ff ¼
4 n o 5 1
2 4 ð 1  /Þ þ / q s þ ð1  /Þ þ / ðqbÞs h  M 2 f
0
parameter M, skin friction coefficient C f G4rx and Nusselt number Nux
qf ðqbÞf

ð14Þ are defined as

9
m g q b ðT T ÞCosXx3 3
; K ¼ x1=2 ; N ¼  163krTk1 >
2
and Pr ¼ af ; Grx ¼ f f w m2 1 >
=
f f KGrx f
   rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

:
nþ7 1 k 2
M ¼ r b 1=2
2 2
x
1 l 00  1
k
; C f G4rx ¼ 2 lnf f ð0Þ; Nux Grx4 ¼  knf h0 ð0Þ >
>
0
Pr nhf  f h0 ¼   nf ð1 þ NÞh00 ; ð15Þ lf Grx
;
4 ð pÞ
q C kf f f

ð1  /Þ þ / qC s
ð p Þf ð16Þ

with the boundary conditions

0
) 3. Entropy generation analysis
f ¼ 0; f ¼ 0; h ¼ 1 when g ¼ 0
0 :
f ¼ 0; h ¼ 0 when g ! 1 The local volumetric rate of entropy generation for a viscous
MHD fluid flow in the presence of thermal radiation is defined as
Physical quantities of interest are the Prandtl number P r , Rayleigh [38,39]
number Grx , porosity parameter K, radiation parameter N, magnetic "  2  2 #
1 @T 16rT 31 @T lnf @u2 lnf 2 rB20 2
Sgen ¼ knf þ  þ þ u þ u : ð17Þ
T2 @y 3k @y T @y TK T
|fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflfflffl}
HFI FFI

Eq. (17) clearly shows contributions of different sources of entropy

generation. In the above expression, HFI is the heat transfer irre-
versibility due to heat transfer in the direction of finite temperature
gradients and FFI is the contribution of fluid friction irreversibility
to the local entropy generation. The first term on the right-hand
side Eq. (17) is the local entropy generation due to heat transfer,
the second term is the local entropy generation due to radiation,
the third term is the local entropy generation due to viscous dissi-
pation, the fourth term is the local entropy generation due to the
effect of the magnetic field and fifth term is the local entropy
generation due to the effect of the porosity field. In terms of the
primitive variables HFI and FFI become
 " 1
#
knf kf ðT w  T 1 ÞGr2 0
HFI ¼ þN h ; ð18Þ
kf x2 ððT w  T 1 Þh þ T 1 Þ2

3 "02 02
#
l3f Gr2 M2 f
00
f þ Kf
FFI ¼ þ ;
x4 qf ðT w  T 1 Þh þ T 1 ð1  /Þ2:5 ððT w  T 1 Þh þ T 1 Þ
ð19Þ
Fig. 2. Thermal conductivity of copper nanofluids by Hamilton– Crosser model for
corresponding particle shapes. where T w and T 1 are measured in degree of Kelvin.
452 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456

Fig. 4. Effects of volume-fraction of nanoparticles on temperature profile when Fig. 6. Effects of magnetic parameter on temperature profile when
K ¼ 0:4; N ¼ :4; M ¼ 0:4; n ¼ 1. K ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04; n ¼ 1.

Fig. 7. Effects of porosity parameter on velocity profile when

Fig. 5. Effects of magnetic parameter on velocity profile when M ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04; n ¼ 1.
K ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04; n ¼ 1.

4. Analytical solutions

The Bejan number Be shows the ration of entropy generation In this section analytical solutions will be determined for the
due to heat transfer irreversibility to the total entropy generation velocity and temperature under the assumption of Boussinesq
so that a Be value more/less than 0.5 shows that the contribution approximation. Eqs. (14)–(16) are solved by using homotopy anal-
of HFI to the total entropy generation is higher/less than of FFI. ysis method. We choose f ðgÞ and hðgÞ
The limiting value of Beð¼ 1Þ shows that the only active entropy
generation mechanism is HFI while Be ¼ 0 represents no HFI con- 1 1 2g
f 0 ðgÞ ¼ þ e  eg ; h0 ðgÞ ¼ eg ; ð21Þ
tribution to the total entropy production. This most important 2 2
physical quantity Be is defined as as the initial approximation of velocity and temperature respec-
tively which satisfy the corresponding boundary conditions. We
HFI use the method of higher order differential mapping, [40] to choose
Be ¼ : ð20Þ
HFI þ FFI the following linear operators defined by
 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456 453

Fig. 8. Effects of porosity parameter on temperature profile when Fig. 10. Effects of radiation parameter on temperature profile when
M ¼ :4; N ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04; n ¼ 1. K ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04; n ¼ 1.

Fig. 11. Effects of power law index on velocity profile when

Fig. 9. Effects of radiation parameter on velocity profile when
K ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04.
K ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04; n ¼ 1.

d
3
d d
2 The non-linear operators N f and N h are defined by
Lf ¼  ; Lh ¼  1: ð22Þ    
dg3 dg dg2 N f ½f ðg; qÞ; hðg; qÞ ¼
n þ 1 02
f 
n þ 7 00
ff
2 4
Introducing non-zero auxiliary parameters h1 and h2 , We develop " ( ) #
1 l   ðqbÞs
the zeroth-order deformation problems as follows 
nf f 000  Kf 0 þ ð1  /Þ þ / h ;
ð1  /Þ þ / qqs lf ðqbÞf
f

ð1  pÞLf ½f ðg; pÞ  f 0 ðgÞ ¼ ph1 Nf ½f ðg; pÞ; hðg; pÞ; ð23Þ ð26Þ
  
ð1  pÞLh ½hðg; pÞ  h0 ðgÞ ¼ ph2 Nh ½f ðg; pÞ; hðg; pÞ; ð24Þ 0 nþ7
Nh ½f ðg; pÞ; hðg; pÞ ¼ Pr nhf  f h0
9 4
f ð0; pÞ ¼ 0; @f @ð0;pÞ
g ¼ 0; f ð1; pÞ ¼ 0
=
1 k
;
: ð25Þ    nf ð1 þ NÞh00 ; ð27Þ
hð0; pÞ ¼ 1; hð1; pÞ ¼ 0 ðqCp Þs kf
ð1  /Þ þ / qC
ð p Þf
454 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456

Fig. 12. Effects of power law index on temperature profile when Fig. 14. Effects of volume-fraction of nanoparticles on Be when
K ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; / ¼ 0:04. K ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; n ¼ 1; T w ¼ 288; T 1 ¼ 308; x ¼ :1; Gr ¼ 10.

The convergence of Eq. (31) depends upon on the auxiliary param-

eters h1 and h2 , therefore, we choose h1 and h2 in such a way that it
should be convergent at p ¼ 1. In view of Eq. (31), finally we have
X
1
f ðgÞ ¼ f 0 ðgÞ þ f m ðgÞ; ð32Þ
m¼1

X
1
hðg; qÞ ¼ h0 ðgÞ þ hm ðgÞ: ð33Þ
m¼0

The mth order deformation problems of Eqs. (23)–(25) are

  )
Lf f m ðgÞ  vm f m1 ðgÞ ¼ h1 Rfm ðgÞ
0 0
; ð34Þ
f m ð0; pÞ ¼ 0; f m ð0; pÞ ¼ 0; f m ð1; pÞ ¼ 0

  )
Lh hm ðgÞ  vm hm1 ðgÞ ¼ h2 Rhm ðgÞ
; ð35Þ
hð0; pÞ ¼ 0; hð1; pÞ ¼ 0

where
  m   m
nþ1 X 0 0 nþ7 X 00
Rfm ðgÞ ¼ f k f mk  f k f mk
2 k¼0
4 k¼0
h  n o i
1 lnf 0 
f m  Kf m þ ð1  /Þ þ / ððqqbbÞÞs hm ;
000
Fig. 13. Effects of volume-fraction of nanoparticles on Sgen when 
l ð36Þ
ð1  /Þ þ / qqs
f f
K ¼ 0:4; M ¼ 0:4; N ¼ 0:4; n ¼ 1; T w ¼ 288; T 1 ¼ 308; x ¼ :1; Gr ¼ 10. f
"   m #
X m
nþ7 X
where embedding parameter p 2 ½0; 1. In both cases, for p ¼ 0 and Rhm ðgÞ ¼ Pr n hm f mk 
0
f m h0mk
p ¼ 1, we have k¼0
4 k¼0

f ðg; 0Þ ¼ f 0 ðgÞ; hðg; 0Þ ¼ h0 ðgÞ and 1 k

   nf ð1 þ NÞh00m ð37Þ
f ðg; 1Þ ¼ f ðgÞ; hðg; 1Þ ¼ hðgÞ: ð28Þ ðqC p Þs kf
ð1  /Þ þ / qC
ð p Þf
By Taylor’s theorem, Eq. (28) can be written as
X
1 and
f ðg; qÞ ¼ f 0 ðgÞ þ f m ðgÞpm ; ð29Þ 
0; m 6 1;
m¼1 vm ¼ ð38Þ
1; m > 1:
X
1
hðg; qÞ ¼ h0 ðgÞ þ hm ðgÞpm ; ð30Þ
m¼1
5. Results and discussion
where
  The governing equation and corresponding boundary condi-
1 @hðg; qÞ 1 @f ðg; qÞ
hm ðgÞ ¼ ; f ðg; qÞ ¼ : ð31Þ tions are transferred to ordinary differential equations. These
m! @pm p¼0 m! @pm p¼0 equations are solved analytically using homotopy analysis method.
 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456 455

As pointed out by Liao [41], the convergence region and rate of Table 2
approximations given by the HAM are strongly dependent upon Effect of nanoparticles friction on skin-friction and Nusselt number when M = 0.4,
K = 0.4, N = 0.4, n = 1.
control parameters h1 and h2 . The error of norm 2 of two successive
approximations over ½0; 1 with HAM by 10th-order approxima- / Platelets Cylinders Bricks
tions are calculated by 1
0 1.34218 1.34218 1.34218
C f G4r
0:04 1.37515 1.37155 1.35505
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u 0:08 1.40893 1.40188 1.39077
u1 X 10
Ef ¼ t
2
ðf ði=10ÞÞ ; ð39Þ 1 0 0.447741 0.447741 0.447741
11 i¼0 10 Nux Gr 4
0:04 0.495377 0.486084 0.471757
vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 0:08 0.543492 0.526196 0.499413
u
u1 X 10
Eh ¼ t
2
ðh10 ði=10ÞÞ : ð40Þ
11 i¼0 Table 3
Effect of magnetic parameter on skin-friction and Nusselt number when K = 0.4, /
= 0.4, N = 0.4, n = 1.
It is seen that the error is minimum at h1 ¼ 0:772 for velocity and
h2 ¼ 0:793 for temperature. It is also noteworthy that the admissi- M Platelets Cylinders Bricks
ble values of h1 and h2 lie in their respective admissible range. 1
0 1.42335 1.39487 1.41284
C f Gr
4

To see the effects of emerging parameters of interest on flow 0:04 1.37515 1.37155 1.35505
quantities such as velocity, temperature and volume-fraction of 0:08 1.25697 1.25181 1.25016

nanoparticles. Figs. 3–14 have been prepared for pertinent param- Nux Gr 4
1 0 0.503493 0.493298 0.478925
eters in the presence of different shapes of copper nanoparticles at 0:04 0.495377 0.486084 0.471757
0:08 0.473123 0.463899 0.450486
Pr ¼ 0:71. Figs. 3 and 4 show the effect of the volume friction of
different shapes of copper nanoparticles on velocity and tempera-
ture profiles. It is perceived that with an increase in volume-frac-
Table 4
tion of platelets, cylinders and bricks nanoparticles, the velocity Effect of porosity parameter on skin-friction and Nusselt number when M = 0.4, /
decreases. But for temperature profile one witness the opposite = 0.4, N = 0.4, n = 1.
behavior. This figure directs to the result that h increases with an
K Platelets Cylinders Bricks
increase in volume-fraction of platelets, cylinders and bricks nano-
1
0 1.51114 1.51435 1.46455
particles. The maximum decrease in velocity and maximum C f Gr
4

0:4 1.37515 1.37155 1.35505

increase in temperature are caused by platelets, followed by cylin- :8 1.26641 1.26222 1.25497
der and bricks respectively. Figs. 4–6 designate the effects of mag-
Nux Gr 4
1 0 0.517944 0.51394 0.505285
netic parameter on velocity and the temperature profiles. It is 0:4 0.495377 0.486084 0.471757
observed that the velocity and the temperature are decrease and :8 0.47468 0.466113 0.452444
increase respectively for increasing the strength of magnetic
parameter. The behaviors of porosity parameter in the presence
of different shaped nanoparticles on velocity and temperature pro- Table 5
files are observed in the Figs. 7 and 8. The behavior of porosity Effect of radiation parameter on skin-friction and Nusselt number when M = 0.4,
parameter K on velocity and temperature profile is quite similar K = 0.4, / = 0.4, n = 1.
to that of magnetic parameter M. The effects of radiation parame- N Platelets Cylinders Bricks
ter on velocity and temperature profile are shown in Figs. 9 and 10. 1
C f Gr
4 0 1.31194 1.31868 1.30039
It is seen that velocity and temperature profiles increase when N is 0:04 1.37515 1.37155 1.35505
increased. It is reasonable in the sense that energy production 0:08 1.40432 1.40362 1.40199
causes to enhance the velocity and temperature profiles. The 1 0 0.551747 0.542638 0.528733
Nux Gr 4
effects of power law index on velocity and temperature are dis- 0:04 0.495377 0.486084 0.471757
played in Figs. 11 and 12. The velocity and temperature are found 0:08 0.454897 0.445654 0.431569
to decrease upon increasing the power law index. Here n ¼ 1 cor-
responds the result for Newtonian fluid which is accordance with
the physical expectations. The effect of entropy generation rate well. The skin-friction coefficient and Nusselt number are maxi-
Sgen is discussed in Fig. 13. It is found that increase percentage in mum values for bricks, cylinders and platelets nanoparticles.
flirtation of nanoparticles leads to increase in entropy generation Table 3 reflects the influence of magnetic parameter on skin-
rate. The increment in heat transfer irreversibility due to heat friction and Nusselt number. It is found that the maximum
transfer in the direction of finite temperature gradients ðHTIÞ and decrease in skin-friction and Nusselt number for large value of
the contribution of fluid friction irreversibility ðFFIÞ is responsible magnetic parameter in case of bricks when compared with the
to increment in the total entropy generation. It is interesting to cases of cylinders and platelets. Table 4 depicts the impact of
note in temperature profile that fluid has maximum temperature porosity parameter on skin-friction and Nusselt number. The
due to platelets nanoparticle, therefore as a result entropy genera- skin-friction and Nusselt number coefficient reduce maximum
tion rate is maximum by platelets shaped nanoparticle. Fig. 14 dis- for porosity parameter in the presence of bricks nanoparticles
closes the study of Bejan number. One can see that ðHTIÞ beats ðFFIÞ when compared with other nanoparticles. Table 5 exhibits the
near the surface of porous inverted cone. In Addition, platelets result of skin-friction and Nusselt numbers collected by multiple
nanoparticles lead to the minimum amount of heat loss while variations of radiation parameter. It is noticed that the magni-
the maximum amount of heat loss occurs when bricks nanoparti- tude of skin friction coefficient maximum increases for large val-
cles are used. ues of radiation parameter by platelets, however, it decreases for
Tables 2–6 are prepared to see the effects of various pertinent large values of radiation parameter by bricks nanoparticles.
parameters on skin-friction and Nusselt number. Table 2 displays Table Table 6 demonstrates the power- law index parameter, it is
the effects of volume friction of particles on skin-friction and Nus- obvious from this table that the skin friction declines by bricks
selt number. For large value of nanoparticles friction, an increase is nanoparticles for large value of n whereas Nusselt numbers
found in the coefficient of skin-friction and Nusselt number as increase much by platelets nanoparticles for the same case.
456 R. Ellahi et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 81 (2015) 449–456
Table 6
Effect of power-law index on skin-friction and Nusselt number when M = 0.4, K = 0.4,
/ = 0.4, N = 0.4.
n Platelets Cylinders Bricks
1
C f Gr
4 0 1.51779 1.50244 1.49055
1 1.37515 1.37155 1.35505
2 1.27476 1.27142 1.26626
1 0 0.382352 0.373583 0.364415
Nux Gr 4
1 0.495377 0.486084 0.471757
2 0.577687 0.563298 0.546666
6. Conclusions
In this paper, the natural convection boundary layer flow having
nano-size particles on entropy generation with based fluid along
an inverted cone is investigated. Porous medium, magnetohydro-
dynamics, radiation and power law index effects are also taken into
account. The effects of various parameters on velocity, tempera-
ture, skin-friction and Nusselt number are illustrated through
graphs and tables. It is observed that the velocity of fluid decreases
by increasing the values of particle volume friction, magnetic,
porosity and power law index parameters. It is also seen that due
to increase in radiation parameter, the velocity of nanofluid is
increased. On the other hand, temperature increases by increasing
the particle volume friction, magnetic parameter, porosity param-
eter and radiation parameter. The reverse behavior is detected for
power law index parameter. In fact, it is in accordance with the
physical expectation since it is well known that the platelets
nanoparticle has greater sphericity than cylinder and bricks nano-
particles, therefore, the platelets nanoparticle comparatively gains
maximum temperature than others. The velocity decreases maxi-
mum by bricks nanoparticles when compared with other shapes.
With the increase of particle friction, magnetic, porosity, radiation
parameters, temperature is increased. The skin-friction and Nusselt
number reduce with the increase of magnetic and porosity param-
eters while the skin-friction rises by increasing the values of parti-
cle friction and viscous dissipation. The Nusselt number also rises
by raising the values of particle friction and power law index.
Acknowledgement
Mohsan Hassan is grateful to the Higher Education Commission
(HEC) Pakistan to award him indigenous scholarship for his PhD
studies.
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