Irreversibility analysis of hydromagnetic viscoelastic Ag-Al2O3/water hybrid nanofluid over a stretching sheet

In many practical applications, magnetic field is applied in modulating underlying flow over a stretching sheet. In the present study, effort has been taken to analyse thermodynamic irreversibility associated with the magnetically actuated flow of viscoelastic fluid over a stretching sheet. The viscoelastic fluid chosen here constitutes aqueous solution of carboxymethyl cellulose containing modest concentration (0.0-0.4%) of Al2O3-Ag nanoparticle. For the description of flow field and thermal transport of energy, the transport equations are solved numerically. Obtained results, primarily focused on parametric variation, are portrayed graphically for different cases pertaining to this analysis. As seen, increasing the magnitude of viscoelastic parameter (K), and Hartmann number (Ha), has significant impact on the flow velocity, convective transport of heat, and consequently, on the thermodynamic irreversibility of the system. Albeit the presence of nanoparticles seems to decrease the flow velocity by yielding more drag to the underlying flow, the same effect on the velocity is found to be insignificant in this analysis, attributed primarily to the accumulation of the nanoparticles in the working fluid.