Abstract—Steady two dimensional natural convection laminar boundary layer flow of an incompressible Al2O 3-water nanofluid along a vertical flat plate with streamwise sinusoidal surface temperature has been investigated numerically. The resulting non-linear governing equations have been solved, using an extensively validated, Galerkin Finite Element Method (FEM) for spherical shaped nanoparticles with volume fraction upto 4%, with associated boundary conditions. Dynamic based models have been implemented, for calculating the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nanofluid. Heat transfer enhancement is observed and highlighted due to the presence of nanoparticles. The effects of the various other parameters are discussed to achieve better control on the rate of heat transfer.

Index Terms—FEM, Natural convection, Nanofluids, Sinusoidal temperature, Vertical flat plate.

P. R. and R. B. Author are with the Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, 247667, INDIA (e-mail: puneetranaiitr@gmail.com; rbharfma@iitr.ernet.in)

Cite: Puneet Rana and R. Bhargava , "Flow and Heat Transfer Analysis of a Nanofluid Along a Vertical Flat Plate with Non-Uniform Heating Using Fem: Effect of Nanoparticle Diameter," International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics  vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 171-176, 2011.