Magnetohydrodynamic Thin Film Flow and Heat Transfer

Magnetohydrodynamic thin film flow examines the movement and thermal behaviour of electrically conducting liquids confined to layers whose thickness is small compared with their other dimensions. When a transverse magnetic field is applied, Lorentz forces interact with viscous and inertial effects to modify velocity profiles, film stability and heat transport. The governing framework couples the Navier–Stokes equations with Maxwell’s equations and energy conservation, yielding dimensionless parameters such as the Hartmann number, Prandtl number and Nusselt number. Recent advances employ similarity transformations and robust numerical techniques to resolve unsteady stretching or rotating surfaces, porous media effects and non-Newtonian rheology. Understanding these flows is critical for efficient cooling of electronic components, precision coating processes, microfluidic heat exchangers and energy-conversion systems, where magnetic control offers a tunable means to regulate film thickness and thermal gradients.

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Magnetohydrodynamic Thin Film Flow and Heat Transfer publication trend

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

Technical terms

Magnetohydrodynamics: The study of fluid flow of electrically conducting media in the presence of magnetic fields, accounting for Lorentz forces.

Thin film flow: Fluid motion confined to a layer whose thickness is small relative to its lateral dimensions, often over moving or curved surfaces.

Nanofluid: A suspension of nanoparticles in a base liquid, engineered to improve thermal conductivity and heat transfer performance.

Hartmann number: Dimensionless quantity expressing the ratio of electromagnetic to viscous forces in a conducting fluid.

Nusselt number: Dimensionless parameter representing the ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer at a boundary.

Prandtl number: Ratio of momentum diffusivity (viscosity) to thermal diffusivity, indicating relative thicknesses of velocity and thermal boundary layers.

References

1. A numerical study on thin film flow and heat transfer enhancement for copper nanoparticles dispersed in ethylene glycol. REVIEWS ON ADVANCED MATERIALS SCIENCE (2023).
2. Radiative MHD thin film flow of Williamson fluid over an unsteady permeable stretching sheet. Heliyon (2018).
3. Impact of Nonlinear Thermal Radiation on MHD Nanofluid Thin Film Flow over a Horizontally Rotating Disk. Applied Sciences (2019).