Abstract
The intension of this investigation is to analyze the laminar boundary layer flow of micropolar nanofluid inside a deformable rotating cone. A comparison is carried out between three types of nanofluids with nanoparticles, that is, metal (Cu), metallic oxide (Al2O3), and a semiconductor (TiO2) with water as base fluid. Brinkman and Maxwell's model of effective dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity is considered. Using suitable similarity transformations, the governing coupled non-linear boundary layer partial differential equations are reduced to non-linear ordinary differential equations, which are further solved numerically by bvp4c technique. The results obtained reveal interesting effects of important pertinent parameters, that is, rotation parameter omega, nanoparticle concentration parameter phi, and micropolar parameter Delta on velocity, microrotation, and temperature profiles, which are analyzed graphically. A comparative analysis of the results of numerically calculated skin friction coefficients and Nusselt number for these parameters are also presented. The problem throughout the whole study is analyzed for both the strong and weak concentration of micro-elements. It is found that the omega and Delta enhance the flow and omega, phi, and Delta boosts the rate of heat transfer in all cases of stretching/shrinking rotating cone except for the case of shrinking rotating cone in which the growth of Delta declines the rate of heat transfer for strong/weak concentration of microelements. Moreover, Cu-waterhas the highest skin friction and Nusselt number.