Insight into the significance of nanoparticle aggregation and non-uniform heat source/sink on titania–ethylene glycol nanofluid flow over a wedge

The properties of nanoparticles in the working fluid are affected by many external factors and it further influences the effective properties of the resulting nanofluid. To study the heat transference mechanism in nanofluids, the inclusion of such factors is quite important as it provides the exact illustration of the mechanism. One such factor is the nanoparticle aggregation effect. Authors have studied the titania–ethylene glycol nanofluid (TiO2/EG NF) flow over a wedge with nanoparticle aggregation effect. Through this communication, authors have attempted to make a development on the Falkner-Skan problem. The flow is developed in the presence of the suction/injection effects, mixed convection, thermal radiation, porous medium, and non-uniform heat source/sink. To account for the influence of nanoparticle aggregation, revised forms of the Maxwell and Bruggeman models and the Krieger-Dougherty model are employed to estimate the effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of TiO2/EG NF, respectively. The aforementioned modified models developed for TiO2/EG NF gave a soundly close agreement with the experimental data. The governing equations are numerically solved employing the “bvp4c function in MATLAB”. The effect of the primary relevant parameters on the velocity, temperature, and heat transmission rate is depicted graphically. The heat transmission rate at the surface is higher with aggregated nanoparticles in comparison to its absence. The higher NPs volume fraction and the aggregation effect enhance the effective viscosity, the fluid becomes denser, and as a result, the velocity decreases. The outcomes of this study will be useful in many fields that utilize applications of flow over wedge such as in raw oil extraction, storage of nuclear waste, insulating heat exchangers, etc.