Magnetohydrodynamic Flow and Heat Transfer in Stretching Surfaces

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow over stretching surfaces encompasses the study of electrically conducting fluids subjected to an applied magnetic field while bound to surfaces that are extended or deformed in a prescribed manner. The interplay between magnetic forces and fluid viscosity within the thin boundary layer adjacent to a stretching sheet profoundly influences velocity and temperature distributions. By controlling parameters such as magnetic field strength, surface stretch rate and fluid composition, one can tailor heat transfer rates and shear stresses for applications ranging from polymer extrusion and glass blowing to cooling of electronic devices and advanced biomedical membranes. The inclusion of nanoparticles or hybrid particles enhances thermal conductivity, while porous or permeable substrates permit mass transpiration through suction or injection, further modifying the flow–thermal behaviour. Analyses often employ similarity transformations to reduce governing partial differential equations to ordinary differential equations, facilitating analytical or semi-analytical solutions that reveal the effects of key non-dimensional numbers on skin friction, Nusselt number and concentration profiles.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have developed exact and asymptotic solutions for non-Newtonian nanofluid flows past stretching or shrinking sheets under MHD and thermal radiation effects. Investigations into slip flow and mass transpiration in a viscid nanofluid with embedded silver and copper particles have shown that first- and second-order slip conditions markedly improve heat transfer rates and allow finer control of velocity profiles through variation of magnetic field strength and surface permeability. Analytical results expressed in terms of incomplete gamma functions reveal that nanoparticle volume fraction and radiation parameters can be tuned to achieve desired thermal performance in blood-analogue fluids and industrial coolants. Complementary work on Casson nanofluids has provided closed-form series solutions that capture the influence of the non-Newtonian yield stress, stretching/shrinking rates and thermal radiation on boundary layer thickness and heat flux. Foundational analyses of hybrid nanofluid flow over quadratically stretching porous sheets have offered detailed mass-transfer insights, showing how chemical reaction and suction/injection parameters can be leveraged to control concentration boundary layers, illustrating the versatility of similarity techniques for layered porous media.

Magnetohydrodynamic Flow and Heat Transfer in Stretching Surfaces publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in magnetohydrodynamic flow and heat transfer in stretching surfaces across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow: Movement of an electrically conducting fluid influenced by magnetic fields.

Stretching surface: A deformable boundary whose motion imposes a spatially varying velocity on the adjacent fluid.

Boundary layer: Thin region adjacent to a surface where viscous and thermal diffusion effects dominate.

Nanofluid: Base fluid containing suspended nanoparticles to enhance thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer.

Slip condition: Boundary model permitting finite relative velocity between fluid and surface.

Mass transpiration: Controlled suction or injection of fluid through a porous surface to modify boundary layer characteristics.

References

1. Effect of slip and thermal gradient on micropolar nano suspension flow across a moving hydrogen fuel-cell membrane. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2024).
2. The MHD Newtonian hybrid nanofluid flow and mass transfer analysis due to super-linear stretching sheet embedded in porous medium. Scientific Reports (2021).
3. Analytical investigation of an incompressible viscous laminar Casson fluid flow past a stretching/shrinking sheet. Scientific Reports (2022).
4. Impact of Navier’s slip and MHD on laminar boundary layer flow with heat transfer for non-Newtonian nanofluid over a porous media. Scientific Reports (2023).