The steady two-dimensional flow and heat transfer over a stretching/shrinking sheet in a nanofluid is investigated using Buongiorno's nanofluid model. Different from the previously published papers, in the present study we consider the case when the nanofluid particle fraction on the boundary is passively rather than actively controlled, which make the model more physically realistic. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into nonlinear ordinary differential equations by a similarity transformation, before being solved numerically by a shooting method. The effects of some governing parameters on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are graphically presented and discussed. Dual solutions are found to exist in a certain range of the suction and stretching/shrinking parameters. Results also indicate that both the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number increase with increasing values of the suction parameter.
The steady boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a nanofluid past a nonlinearly permeable stretching/shrinking sheet is numerically studied. The governing partial differential equations are reduced into a system of ordinary differential equations using a similarity transformation, which are then solved numerically using a shooting method. The local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number and some samples of velocity, temperature and nanoparticle concentration profiles are graphically presented and discussed. Effects of the suction parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian motion parameter and the stretching/shrinking parameter on the flow, concentration and heat transfer characteristics are thoroughly investigated. Dual solutions are found to exist in a certain range of the stretching/shrinking parameter for both shrinking and stretching cases. Results indicate that suction widens the range of the stretching/shrinking parameter for which the solution exists.