Boundary layer flow and heat-mass transfer of shear-thinning nanofluid past a thin needle: Electroperiodic magnetic field and thermo-diffusion effects

Heat and mass transfer in a boundary layer flow (BLF) of shear-thinning nanofluid (NF) around a thin needle has various practical applications including industrial processes, like medical devices, complicated cooling systems, high-efficiency thermal control in microelectronic devices, and chemical reactors designs. With a focus on its practical applications, this work investigates the heat and mass transfer effectiveness in a BLF of shear-thinning fluid containing alumina-copper nanoparticles around a thin needle subject to electroperiodic magnetic field in a nonlinear radiative environment. A comparative analysis is done for heat-mass transfer performance of alumina-copper-water-tangent hyperbolic fluid and water-tangent hyperbolic in order to optimize thermal and mass transmission efficiency by highlighting the importance of latent heat, nanomaterial load and thermo-diffusion processes. This work is novel because such comparative investigation on heat-mass transfer for alumina-copper-water-tangent hyperbolic fluid and water-tangent hyperbolic is not taken yet. The governing model for a BLF around a thin needle are solved using Runge Kutta fourth order (RK-4) method. The findings shows that the action of electroperiodic magnetic field greatly improves mass transfer and heat transfer performance. Latent heat effect and needle thickness enlargement improve the rate of heat-mass. Elevating the Weissenberg number modifies the flow dynamics. Adding more alumina-copper nanoparticles to the mixture increases its thermal conductivity and as a result increases the heat transfer rate. The Dufour number had a positive effect on temperature distribution. The activation energy, and Soret numbers all worked together to significantly alter the concentration profile. The mixture ( ) show better heat-mass transfer efficiency as compared to ( ) fluid.