Hybrid nanofluid flow towards a stagnation point on a stretching/shrinking cylinder

This paper examines the stagnation point flow towards a stretching/shrinking cylinder in a hybrid nanofluid. Here, copper (Cu) and alumina (Al(2)O(3)) are considered as the hybrid nanoparticles while water as the base fluid. The governing equations are reduced to the similarity equations using a similarity transformation. The resulting equations are solved numerically using the boundary value problem solver, bvp4c, available in the Matlab software. It is found that the heat transfer rate is greater for the hybrid nanofluid compared to the regular nanofluid as well as the regular fluid. Besides, the non-uniqueness of the solutions is observed for certain physical parameters. It is also noticed that the bifurcation of the solutions occurs in the shrinking regions. In addition, the heat transfer rate and the skin friction coefficients increase in the presence of nanoparticles and for larger Reynolds number. It is found that between the two solutions, only one of them is stable as time evolves.