Numerical Analysis of the Unsteady Natural Convection MHD Couette Nanofluid Flow in the Presence of Thermal Radiation Using Single and Two-Phase Nanofluid Models for Cu–Water Nanofluids

The unsteady Couette nanofluid flow with heat transfer is investigated numerically for copper–water nanofluids under the combined effects of thermal radiation and a uniform transverse magnetic field with variable thermo-physical properties, in the case where the flow is established vertically between two parallel plates, so that one of them has an accelerated motion. The homogeneous single-phase model (i.e., Tiwari and Das’s nanofluid model) and the two-phase mixture model (i.e., Buongiorno’s nanofluid model) are utilized in this study together with Corcione’s model to further investigate and clarify the differences between those models and evaluate the validity of the single-phase model for studying the unsteady natural convection MHD Couette nanofluid flow with thermal radiation. In this investigation, we assume that the studied nanofluid is electrically conducting and has a Newtonian rheological behavior. The nonlinear dynamical system of partial differential equations are solved numerically by means of the Gear–Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobatto collocation technique for zero nanoparticles mass flux and no-slip impermeable conditions at the isothermal vertical plates. In a special case, the present numerical solution is also validated analytically and numerically with the earlier available results. For both nanofluid models, the effects of major parameters on the dimensionless velocity, temperature and volumetric fraction of nanoparticles are analysed via representative profiles, whereas the skin friction factor and the heat transfer rate are estimated numerically and discussed through tabular illustrations.