[Link].

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OPEN MHD flow of Maxwell fluid

with nanomaterials due to an
exponentially stretching surface
Received: 11 April 2018 Umer Farooq1,2, Dianchen Lu   1, Shahzad Munir2, Muhammad Ramzan3,4,
Accepted: 23 April 2019 Muhammad Suleman1,2 & Shahid Hussain5
Published: xx xx xxxx
In many industrial products stretching surfaces and magnetohydrodynamics are being used. The
purpose of this article is to analyze magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) non-Newtonian Maxwell fluid with
nanomaterials in a surface which is stretching exponentially. Thermophoretic and Brownian motion
effects are incorporated using Buongiorno model. The given partial differential system is converted into
nonlinear ordinary differential system by employing adequate self-similarity transformations. Locally
series solutions are computed using BVPh 2.0 for wide range of governing parameters. It is observed
that the flow is expedite for higher Deborah and Hartman numbers. The impact of thermophoresis
parameter on the temperature profile is minimal. Mathematically, this study describes the reliability of
BVPh 2.0 and physically we may conclude the study of stretching surfaces for non-Newtonian Maxwell
fluid in the presence of nanoparticles can be used to obtain desired qualities.

Heat transfer and magnetohydrodynamics in the boundary layer flows are important research topics due to their
usage in industry and metallurgy. Several procedures such as chilling of filaments or continuous strips by taking
them out from stagnant fluid involve stretching of these strips. The refrigeration of temperature reduction finally
defines the quality of the end product. Further such flows are important in view of engineering applications
related to geothermal energy extractions, crystal growing, power plants, plasma studies, paper production and
MHD generators. Sakiadis1–3 presented pioneering research on flow induced by stretching surface. Afterwards,
the problems for linear and nonlinear stretching surfaces have been investigated extensively (see for instance)4–6.
Pioneer research on the flow due to an exponentially stretching surface was done by Magyari and Keller7. Sajid
and Hayat8 discussed the importance of thermal radiation. Sahoo and Poncet9 studied partial slip effect for the
third grade fluid flow. Mukhopadhyay investigated porous medium and thermally stratified medium in an expo-
nentially stretching surface10,11. Rahman et al.12 addressed such flow considering second order slip by utilizing
Buongiorno’s model. Hayat et al.13 developed analysis for Oldroyd-B fluid. Patil et al.14 obtained non-similar solu-
tions for such flows for stretching surface considering mixed convection, double diffusion and viscous dissipation
effects. Few other studies with reference to the flow and heat transfer characteristics of viscous and non-viscous
fluids over surfaces which are stretching exponentially can be found through the refs therein15–23.
The studies related to non-Newtonian fluids have generated considerable interest in recent times. This is as
a result of their numerous utilizations in industrial products. In general, such fluids cannot be explained by one
constitutive equation. Hence, different constitutive equations are proposed in view of the diversity of such fluids.
Fluids of non-Newtonian types are mainly distributed among integral, rate and differential types. Maxwell fluid
falls under rate type non-viscous fluids category. This class illustrates the relaxation time effects. In past, Fetecau24
obtained exact solution for Maxwell fluid flow. Wang and Hayat25 studied Maxwell fluid flow in porous medium.
Fetecau et al.26 investigated fraction Maxwell fluid for unsteady flow. Hayat et al.27 studied two-dimensional MHD
Maxwell fluid. Heyhat and Khabzi28 investigated MHD upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid flow above a flat
rigid region. Hayat and Qasim29 obtained series solutions for two-dimensional MHD flow with thermophoresis

1
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Jiangsu University, 212013, Zhenjiang, China. 2Department of
Mathematics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Park road, Tarlai Kalan, 44000, Islamabad, Pakistan. 3Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, 143-747, Korea. 4Department of Computer Science, Bahria
University, Islamabad Campus, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan. 5School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu
University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China. Shahzad Munir, Muhammad Ramzan, Muhammad Suleman and Shahid
Hussain contributed equally. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to U.F. (email: umer_
farooq@[Link]) or D.L. (email: dclu@[Link])

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Figure 1.  Physical Configuration.

and Joule heating. Jamil and Fetecau30 considered Maxwell fluid for Helical flows between coaxial cylinders.
Zheng et al.31 constructed closed form solutions for generalized Maxwell fluid in a rotating flow. Wang and Tan32
presented stability analysis for Maxwell fluid subject to double-diffusive convection, porous medium and soret
effects. Motsa et al.33 examined UCM flow in a porous structure. Mukhopadhyay et al.34 elaborated thermally
radiative Maxwell fluid flow over a continuously permeable expanding surface. Ramesh et al.35 numerically
investigated Maxwell fluid with nanomaterials for MHD flow in a Riga plate. Ijaz et al.36 explored the behav-
ior of Maxwell nanofluid flow for the motile gyrotactic microorganism in magnetic field. UCM fluid model for
non-Fourier heat flux is investigated by Ijaz et al.37.
Nanofluids consists of ordinary liquids and nanoparticles. Nanofluids are quite useful to improve the perfor-
mance of ordinary liquids. Nanofluids are developed by inserting fibers and nanometer size particles to origi-
nal fluids. Nanofluids are especially significant in hybrid powered engines, pharmaceutical processes, fuel cells,
microelectronics. The nanoparticles basically connect atomic structures with bulk materials. Commonly used
ordinary liquids include toluene, oil, water, engine oil and ethylene glycol mixtures. The metal particles include
aluminum, titanium, gold, iron or copper. The nanofluids commonly contains up to 5% fraction volume of nano-
particles to obtain significant improvement in heat transfer. Further, the magnetic nanofluids have great interest
in optical switches, biomedicine, cancer therapy, cell separation, optical gratings and magnetic resonance imag-
ing. An extensive review on nanofluids includes the attempts of38,39. One can also mention the previous recent
studies40–45 regarding the improvement of thermal conductivity in the nanofluids.
In view of aforementioned discussion, the MHD flow of non-viscous Maxwell fluid with nanomaterials in an
exponentially stretching surface is addressed. The BVPh 2.0 which is developed on the basis of optimal homotopy
analysis method (OHAM) is employed to solve nonlinear differential system46–50. The convergence of the present
results is discussed by the so-called average squared residual errors. Velocity, temperature, concentration, the
local Sherwood and the local Nusselt number are also examined through graphs.

Problem Formulation
Figure 1 describes the MHD laminar, incompressible flow, thermal and concentration boundary layers in a
surface which is stretching exponentially with velocity Uw and given concentration Cw and temperature Tw is
described using boundary layer theory as follows:
∂u ∂v
+ = 0,
∂x ∂y (1)

∂u ∂u ∂ 2u  ∂ 2u ∂ 2u ∂ 2u  σBo2  ∂u 
u +v = ν 2 − λ u2 2 + 2uv + v2 2  − λv + u,
∂x ∂y ∂x  ∂x ∂y  ρf  ∂y 
 ∂x ∂y  (2)

  2
  ∂C ∂T  
∂T ∂T ∂ 2T DT ∂T
u +v = α 2 + τ
   + DB 
,
∂x ∂y ∂y 
 T∞  ∂y   ∂y ∂y 

 
 (3)

∂C ∂C  ∂ 2C  D  ∂ 2T 
u +v = DB 2  + T  2 .
∂x ∂y 
 ∂y  T∞  ∂y  (4)
where, u is the x component and v is the y component of the Maxwell fluid velocity. Also g, DT, C, T∞, λ, ν,
ρf, C∞, T, σ, DB and α represents gravitational acceleration, thermophoretic diffusion coefficient, nanoparticle
volume fraction, free stream temperature, relaxation time, the ratio between nanoparticle and original fluids

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heat capacities, kinematic viscosity, fluid density, free stream concentration, temperature, electrical conductivity,
Brownian diffusion coefficient and thermal diffusivity, respectively. The subjected boundary conditions (BCs) are
given by,
x  x 
Uw(x ) = u = U0exp  , Tw = T = T∞ + T0exp  , v = 0,
 l   2l  (5)

x 
Cw = C = C∞ + C0 exp  at y = 0,
 2l  (6)

u → 0, C → C∞, T → T∞, v→0 as y → ∞. (7)

The adequate transformations for the considered problem are taken as follows:

U0 x  x  x 
η = exp y , ψ = 2lνU0 f (η)exp  , uU0exp  f ′(η),
2νl  2l   2l   l 
U0ν x  T − T∞ C − C∞
v = exp [η f ′(η) + f (η)], θ(η) = , φ(η) = .
2l  2l  T0 exp
x
( ) 2l
C0 exp
x
( )
2l (8)
Substitution of (8) into (2)–(4) yields

 η 1 
f ′′′ − 2f ′2 − 2M2f ′ + β3ff ′f ″ + (f ′)2 f ″ − 2(f ′)3 − f 2 f ′′′
 2 2 
+M2β(ηf ′f ″ + ff ″) + ff ″ = 0, (9)

θ″ + Pr(fθ′ + Ntθ′2 − f ′θ + Nbθ′φ′) = 0, (10)

Nt
φ″ + θ″ − PrLe(f ′φ − fφ′) = 0,
Nb (11)
in which the incompressibility condition (1) is satisfied identically and the parameters Le, M, Nb, β, Pr, Nt are the
Lewis number, Hartman number, the Brownian motion parameter, Deborah number, Prandtl number and the
thermophoresis parameter, respectively. The definitions of these numbers are,

ρB02l λUw τDT T0exp(x /2l ) α ν

M2 = , β= , Nt = , Le = , Pr = .
ρUw l νT∞ DB α (12)
The non-dimensional BCs from Eqs (5)–(7) becomes

f (0) = 0, f ′(0) = 1, φ(0) = 1, (0) = 1, 




f ′(∞) = 0, θ(∞) = 0, φ(∞) = 0.  
 (13)
The heat and mass transfer rates in terms of local Sherwood, the local Nusselt numbers, and the local skin
friction coefficient are defined by
xji xqi 2τi
Sh = , Nu = , Cf = ,
DB(C∞ − Cw ) K (T∞ − Tw ) ρUw2 (14)
where ji, qi, and τi are the mass, heat, and momentum fluxes from the surface. These are defined as follows:
 ∂C   ∂T   ∂u 
ji = − DB  , qi = − K  , τi = µ 
 ∂y   ∂y 
  ∂y y =0
y =0 y =0 (15)
In dimensionless form they are represented as:

−1 X −1 X 1
Rex 2 Sh = − φ′(0), Rex 2 Nux = − θ′(0), (2Re)2 Cf = 2X f ″(0) .
2 2 (16)

Homotopy-Based Approach
The following methodology details should provide as a guide about OHAM aiming to solve nonlinear differential
system (9)–(11) with BCs (13) and identify the variations of physical solutions of the differential system. In the
framework of OHAM, we can choose auxiliary linear operators in the forms

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m c 0f c 0θ c 0φ εmt t (seconds)
1 −1.02 −0.04 −1.48 0.15 × 10−1 0.968055
3 −1.19 −0.82 −1.48 0.37 × 10−2 11.357
5 −1.34 −0.91 −1.56 0.17 × 10−2 85.337

Table 1.  Choice of convergence enhancing parameters for β = Nb = M = Nt = 0.1, Le = Pr = 1.0.

m 10 20 30
εmf 2.07 × 10−7 1.17 × 10−7 7.08 × 10−8
εmθ 0.28 × 10−4 8.68 × 10−6 4.77 × 10−6
εmφ 0.62 × 10−3 0.22 × 10−3 0.13 × 10−3
εmt 0.64 × 10−3 0.23 × 10−3 2 × 10−3
t (seconds) 59.2263511 707.5565964 5623.3201208

Table 2.  Squared residual errors with c 0f = − 1.34, c 0θ = − 0.91, c 0φ = − 1.56 for β = Nb = M = Nt = 0.1,
Le = Pr = 1.0.

d 3u du
1[u(η: q)] = 3
− ,
dη dη (17)

d 2u
2[v(η: q)] = − v.
dη 2 (18)
Obviously, the operators satisfying the below assumptions
1[D1exp( −η) + D2exp(η) + D3] = 0, (19)

2[D4exp( −η) + D5exp(η)] = 0. (20)

The corresponding auxiliary linear operator for f(η) is 1 and 2 corresponds to θ(η) and φ(η). In OHAM we
also have flexibility to pick the initial solutions. It is mandatory that all initial solutions should satisfy the BCs
(13). Therefore, we set the initial solutions as follows:
f0 (η) = 1 − exp( −λ aη), (21)

θ0(η) = exp( −λ bη), (22)

φ0(η) = exp( −λbη) . (23)

where λa = λb = 1. We have applied BVPh 2.0 to solve nonlinear differential system (9)–(11) with BCs (13).
With linear operators (17) and (18) and initial solutions (21)–(23), the Eqs (9)–(11) with BCs (13) can be solved
directly by using BVPh 2.0 in quite easy and convenient way.

Results and Discussion

The OHAM approximations contains unknown convergence enhancing parameters c 0f , c 0θ and c 0φ . Liao46 pro-
posed Minimum Error Method that can be used to compute values for convergence enhancing parameters. These
optimal convergence control parameters ensure the fast convergence of OHAM solutions. The mechanism for the
choice of optimal convergence enhancing parameters is explained by an illustrative example. Let us assume
β = Nb = M = Nt = 0.1, Le = Pr = λ = 1.0, the optimal values of c 0f , c 0θ and c 0φ are computed through the minimi-
zation of squared residual error as shown in Table 1. It is noted that the total error is decreased by increasing the
order of iteration. Optimal convergence-control parameters corresponding to 5th-order OHAM iteration are
then used to check the convergence of our results at various orders of approximation. The OHAM iterations at
various orders are shown in Table 2. The presented results demonstrate the high efficiency and reliability of
OHAM series solutions. The graphical analysis has been accomplished for the flow pattern, concentration, tem-
perature, the local Sherwood number and the local Nusselt number for various values of β, Le, Pr, M, Nt and Nb.
Figure 2 illustrates the impact of β on the velocity graph for different M. It is visible that fluid flow is maximum
in the ambient fluid for smaller β. However, the fluid changes its properties from Newtonian to non-Newtonian
characteristics for higher β, and hence the flow shows decreasing behavior. The boundary layer thickness reduces
as we increase β and M.
Figure 3 displays the influence of β and M on concentration and temperature graphs. It is observed that the
increase in β and M enhances concentration and temperature.

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Figure 2.  Graphs of f ′(η) for different β and M.

Figure 3.  Graphs of θ(η) and φ(η) for different values of β and M.

Figure 4 describes the dimensionless concentration and temperature for various values of Nb. The temperature
increases with the increase of Nb but concentration decreases in the boundary layer region.
Figure 5 illustrates that due to increase in the values of Nt, the concentration profile increases but temperature
decreases. The overshoot in the concentration is observed that is highest concentration occurs in the ambient
fluid but not at the surface.

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Figure 4.  Graphs of θ(η) and φ(η) for different Nb.

Figure 5.  Graphs of θ(η) and φ(η) for different Nt.

Figure 6 describes the influence of Pr on the concentration and temperature profiles. Temperature is a decreas-
ing function of Pr. The dimensionless temperature decreases for higher Pr and hence the thermal boundary layer
reduces. Concentration overshoot is observed near the wall.

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Figure 6.  Graphs of θ(η) and φ(η) for different Pr.

Figure 7.  Graphs of the local Nusselt number for Pr with varying M and β.

Figure 7 displays the local Nusselt number for several values of β and M. The local Nusselt number is an
increasing function of Pr but the increase in β and M decreases the local Nusselt number.
Figure 8 shows that the local Nusselt number is a decreasing function of Nb. The increase in either Nt or Le
decreases the local Nusselt number. The local Sherwood number is plotted as a function of Nb in Fig. 9. It can be
seen that local Sherwood number is an increasing function of Nb and Le. However, the increase in Nt decreases
the local Sherwood number.

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Figure 8.  Graphs of the local Nusselt Number for Nb with varying Nt.

Figure 9.  Graphs of the local Sherwood Number for Nb with varying Nt.

Figure 10 exhibits the local skin friction coefficient as a function of Prandtl number. The change in Prandtl
number does not affect the local skin friction coefficient. It is also observed the increase in β and M reduces the
local skin friction coefficient.

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Figure 10.  Graphs of the local skin friction coefficient with varying M and β.

Conclusions
The main points of presented analysis are given below.

• Increase in β and M enhances the flow.

• Temperature is enhanced through increase in β, M and Nb whereas it decreases due to increase in Nt and Pr.
• The increase in the values of β, M and Nt leads to an increase in the volumetric concentration profile, whereas
quite opposite is true for Nb.
• The local Nusselt number increases with an increase in Pr. However, local Nusselt number decreases with the
increase in M, β, Le and Nt.
• The local Sherwood number is increasing function of Nb and Le, whereas it decreases for an increase in Nt.

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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the China Post-doctoral science foundation, Peoples Republic of China (PRC) (Grant
No. 2018M632237).

Author Contributions
S.M. and U.F. wrote the main manuscript text. M.R. and M.S. performed the mathematical modeling. S.H. and
D.C.L. prepared the figures and tables. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Additional Information
Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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