Title: Electrothermo convection in a horizontal layer of rotating nanofluid

Authors: Ramesh Chand; Dhananjay Yadav; G.C. Rana

Addresses: Department of Mathematics, Government College Nurpur, Himachal Pradesh, PIN 176202, India ' School of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University Seoul, South Korea ' Department of Mathematics, Government College Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, PIN 177005, India

Abstract: Thermal instability in a horizontal layer of nanofluid with vertical AC electric field in the presence of rotation is investigated. The flux of volume fraction of a nanoparticle is taken to be zero on the isothermal boundaries and the eigenvalue problem is solved using the Galerkin method. The model used for nanofluid incorporates the effect of Brownian diffusion, thermophoresis and electrophoresis. Linear stability theory based upon the normal mode technique is employed to find expressions for Rayleigh number for stationary and oscillatory convection. The influence of rotation (Taylor number), Lewis number, modified diffusivity ratio, concentration Rayleigh number, AC electric Rayleigh number on the stationary convection have been investigated both analytically and graphically. The necessary condition for the occurrence oscillatory convection has also been obtained.

Keywords: Taylor number; Lewis number; AC electric field; Brownian motion; Prandtl number; electrothermal convection; horizontal layers; rotating nanofluids; nanotechnology; thermal instability; thermophoresis; electrophoresis; stationary convection; oscillatory convection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNP.2015.073726

International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2015 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.241 - 261

Received: 06 Apr 2015
Accepted: 06 Jul 2015

Published online: 16 Dec 2015 *

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