Magnetohydrodynamics flow of hybrid nanofluid over a heated thin needle

Suspending nanoparticles in the base fluid can effectively improve the thermal conductivity of a fluid. Therefore, this study focuses on a steady two-dimensional laminar forced convection boundary layer flow along a horizontal thin heated needle immersed in a hybrid nanofluid with convective boundary condition. Copper and aluminium oxide nanoparticles with water as based fluid were selected for this study. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into nonlinear ordinary differential equations by using an appropriate similarity transformation. These equations are then solved numerically using bvp4c package in MATLAB software. The effect of the involved parameters of interest, including nanoparticles volume fraction, needle thickness, velocity ratio, dimensionless slip length, interaction of magnetic field and convective boundary condition on the velocity and temperature profiles, as well as the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are illustrated through graphs and tables. The result shows that as the nanoparticles volume fraction and dimensionless slip length parameter increase, the velocity profile increases. On the other hand, the temperature increases when the parameters of needle thickness, dimensionless slip length, interaction of magnetic field, volume fraction of nanoparticles, velocity ratio parameter and convective boundary condition increase. Overall, as the parameters increase Cu-Al2O3/water have higher values of skin friction and Nusselt number compared to water. The applications of this investigation can be applied in the field of biomedical engineering where heated needles play a crucial role in medical treatments such as thermal ablation, drug delivery, and minimally invasive surgeries.