Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis of MHD Silver Nanofluid Flow over a Cylindrical Surface with Radiation and Chemical Reaction Effects

Abstract

This study investigates the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) silver nanofluid flow over a cylindrical surface under the combined effects of thermal radiation and chemical reaction. Effective thermophysical property correlations are incorporated to describe the influence of silver nanoparticle volume fraction on the nanofluid's thermal and momentum transport characteristics. The governing equations for mass, momentum, energy, and species concentration are formulated in cylindrical coordinates and reduced to dimensionless equations using appropriate transformations. The resulting equations are analysed using the Laplace transform technique, with Wolfram Mathematica employed for the associated symbolic and computational evaluations. The effects of the Reynolds, Prandtl, Schmidt, thermal and solutal Grashof, Hartmann, radiation, chemical reaction, electrical conductivity, and nanoparticle volume fraction parameters are examined through the velocity, temperature, and concentration distributions. The skin-friction coefficient, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are also evaluated to assess the hydrodynamic, thermal, and mass-transfer characteristics. The analysis indicates that the magnetic field influences the velocity through the Lorentz force, while the Prandtl and Schmidt numbers govern the relative thermal and mass diffusion processes, respectively. Thermal radiation and chemical reaction modify the temperature and concentration fields, respectively, with corresponding effects on the surface heat- and mass-transfer rates. The results provide a theoretical basis for understanding the coupled momentum, heat, and species transport in MHD silver nanofluids over cylindrical surfaces.