Exploring the thermal behavior of Cu-water and CuO-water power-law nanofluids on a rotating circular disc: A computational analysis

The current theoretical investigation focuses on the thermal behavior of a power-law nanofluid flow on a rotating circular disc. In which nanofluid is made by taking colloidal suspension of copper (Cu) and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles in a base fluid like water. A theoretical investigation is conducted by formulating a mathematical model of a power-law fluid (which exhibits shear thickening and thinning effects) along with the Tiwari and Das model. A similarity transformation is employed to transform the nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and these ODEs are then numerically solved using the shooting technique. The study's findings are analyzed graphically by plotting radial, tangential, and axial velocity profiles, temperature profiles, Nusselt number, and skin friction coefficients to show how various factors affect the fluid's flow and heat transfer. It is revealed that drag force reduces in Cu-water nanofluid as compared to CuO-water nanofluid for all types of fluids (Newtonian, pseudoplastic, and dilatant fluids) and Nusselt number becomes high in Cu-water nanofluid for both Newtonian and dilatant fluids as compared to CuO-water nanofluid but in case of pseudoplastic reverse behavior is observed. Heat transfer rate in Cu-water dilatant and pseudoplastic nanofluids increases up to 20.4 % and 12.5 % with respect to base fluid and in CuO-water dilatant and pseudoplastic water nanofluids, it increases up to 18.6 % and 15.2 %.