Convective boundary layer flow and heat transfer in a nanofluid in the presence of second order slip, constant heat flux and zero nanoparticles flux

• Convective boundary layer flow and heat transfer in a nanofluid is investigated.
• Second order slip increases the rate of shear stress and decreases the rate of heat transfer in a nanofluid.
• In nanofluid flow zero normal flux of the nanoparticles at the surface is realistic to apply.
• Multiple solutions are identified for certain values of the parameter space.
• The upper branch solution is found to be stable, hence physically realizable.

In this work, the effects of the second order slip, constant heat flux, and zero normal flux of the nanoparticles due to thermophoresis on the convective boundary layer flow and heat transfer characteristics in a nanofluid using Buongiorno's model over a permeable shrinking sheet is studied theoretically. The nonlinear coupled similarity equations are solved using the function bvp4c using Matlab. Similarity solutions of the flow, heat transfer and nanoparticles volume fraction are presented graphically for several values of the model parameters. The results show that the application of second order slip at the interface is found to be increased the rate of shear stress and decreased the rate of heat transfer in a nanofluid, so need to be taken into account in nanofluid modeling. The results further indicate that multiple solutions exist for certain values of the parameter space. The stability analysis provides guarantee that the lower branch solution is unstable, while the upper branch solution is stable and physically realizable.