Thermal performance and flow dynamics of alumina-copper-titania/water nanofluid over a convectively heated moving surface

Abstract

The present work examines the steady boundary layer flow and convective heat transfer of a alumina-copper-titania/water ternary hybrid nanofluid over a moving surface with convective heating. This work is relevant to numerous industrial applications involving dynamic thermal systems such as rolling sheets, extrusion processes, and thermal regulation of moving components where the traditional nanofluids may not offer sufficient thermal performance. The governing partial differential equations incorporating convective boundary condition and surface suction effect are transformed using similarity variables and numerically solved using the Matlab’s bvp4c solver. Results reveal the existence of dual solutions for specific velocity ratios with the primary solution deemed physically stable based on boundary condition satisfaction. It is found that increasing suction intensifies the velocity gradient and enhances heat removal by thinning both momentum and thermal boundary layers. A higher nanoparticle volume fraction enhances fluid motion but leads to elevated temperatures due to increased thermal energy storage, reducing the local Nusselt number. Moreover, larger Biot numbers amplify the thermal boundary layer thickness, indicating stronger surface-fluid thermal coupling. The novelty of this work lies in the combined analysis of ternary hybrid nanoparticle effects, suction and convective heating over a moving surface; a configuration that has received minimal attention in previous literature. The findings provide new insights into optimizing heat transfer in advanced nanofluid-assisted thermal systems.