Magnetohydrodynamic mixed bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms in a nanofluid-saturated porous cavity heated with a bell-shaped curved bottom

Purpose This study aims to investigate thermo-bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms occurring in a nanofluid-saturated porous lid-driven cavity in the presence of the magnetic field. The heating is provided through a bell-shaped curved bottom wall heated isothermally. The effects of the peak height of the curved bottom wall, bioconvection Rayleigh number (Rb), Darcy number (Da), Hartmann number (Ha), Peclet number (Pe), Lewis number (Le) and Grashof number (Gr) on the flow structure, temperature and the iso-concentrations of oxygen and microorganisms are examined and explained systematically. The local and global, characteristics of heat transfer and oxygen concentration, are estimated through the Nusselt number (Nu) and Sherwood number (Sh), respectively. Design/methodology/approach The governing equations of continuity, momentum, energy and additionally consisting of species transport equations for oxygen concentration and population density of microorganisms, are discretized by the finite volume method. The evolved linearized algebraic equations are solved iteratively through the alternate direction implicit scheme and the tri-diagonal matrix algorithm. The computation domain has meshed in non-uniform staggered grids. The entire computations are carried out through an in-house developed code written in FORTRAN following the SIMPLE algorithm. The third-order upwind and second-order central difference schemes are used for handling the advection and diffusion terms, respectively. The convergence criterion for the iterative process of achieving the final solution is set as 10–8 and 10–10, respectively, for the maximum residuals and the mass defect. Findings The results show that the flow and temperature distribution along with the iso-concentrations of oxygen and microorganisms are markedly affected by the curvature of the bottom wall. A secondary circulation is developed in the cavity that changes the flow physics significantly. The Nu increases with the peak height of the curved bottom wall and Da; however, it decreases with Ha and Rb. The Sh increases with Da but decreases with Ha and the peak height of the curved wall. Research limitations/implications A similar study of bioconvection could be extended further considering thermal radiation, chemical attraction, gravity, light, etc. Practical implications The outcomes of this investigation could be used in diverse fields of multi-physical applications such as in food industries, chemical processing equipment, fuel cell technology and enhanced oil recovery. Originality/value The insights of bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms using a curved bottom surface along with other physical issues such as nanofluid, porous substance and magnetic field are addressed systematically and thoroughly.

Magnetohydrodynamic bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms in porous media saturated with Cu–water nanofluid

Purpose The purpose of this study is to address magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) bioconvection caused by the swimming of oxytactic microorganisms in a linearly heated square cavity filled with porous media and Cu–water nanofluid. The effects of different multiphysical aspects are demonstrated using local distributions as well as global quantities for fluid flow, temperature, oxygen concentration and microorganisms population. Design/methodology/approach The coupled transport equations are converted into the nondimensional partial differential equations, which are solved numerically using a finite volume-based computing code. The flow of Cu–water nanofluid through the pores of porous media is formulated following the Brinkman–Forchheimer–Darcy model. The swimming of oxytactic microorganisms is handled following a continuum model. Findings The analysis of transport phenomena of bioconvection is performed in a linearly heated porous enclosure containing Cu–water nanofluid and oxytactic microorganisms under the influence of magnetic fields. The application of such a system could have potential impacts in diverse fields of engineering and science. The results show that the flow and temperature distribution along with the isoconcentrations of oxygen and microorganisms is markedly affected by the involved governing parameters. Research limitations/implications Similar study of bioconvection could be extended further considering thermal radiation, chemical attraction, gravity and light. Practical implications The outcomes of this investigation could be used in diverse fields of multiphysical applications, such as in food industries, chemical processing equipment, fuel cell technology and enhanced oil recovery. Originality/value The insight of the linear heating profile reveals a special attribute of simultaneous heating and cooling zones along the heated side. With such an interesting feature, the MHD bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms in nanofluid-filled porous substance is not reported so far.

Investigation of magnetohydrodynamic nanofluid flow contain motile oxytactic microorganisms over rotating cone

Purpose The purpose of the study is to indicate a three-dimensional convective heat transfer properties evaluation of magnetohydrodynamics nanofluid flow, comprising motile oxytactic microorganisms and nanoparticles, passing through a rotating cone. Design/methodology/approach The imposed technique for solving the governing equations is the Runge–Kutta fifth-order method. The main point of this survey is to diagnosis the influence of diverse factors on velocity, temperature distributions and concentration profile. Furthermore, appending the magnetic field, thermal radiation and viscous dissipation in calculations; also, simultaneous involvement of heat absorption and excretion has been represented as novelties. Findings The results elucidate that by changing the Peclet number from 1 to 2, the dimensionless concentration of the microorganisms has been diminished by about 34.37%. In addition, variation of the magnetic parameter from 0 to 1 has been resulted in reducing the temperature distribution by about 3.11%. Originality/value Recently, attention has been absorbed to adding the motile microorganisms to nanofluid for enhancement of heat transfer and avoiding aggregation of particles. In this regard, the hydrothermal flow of microorganisms has been investigated in this study.

Modulated Viscosity-Dependent Parameters for MHD Blood Flow in Microvessels Containing Oxytactic Microorganisms and Nanoparticles

This work’s primary purpose is to implement a numerical study that simulates blood flow through a microvessel involving oxytactic microorganisms and nanoparticles. The oxytactic microorganisms exhibit negative chemotaxis to gradients of oxygen (oxygen repellents). These microorganisms are to batter infected hypoxic tumor cells as drug-carriers. The viscosity of blood is to vary with temperature, shear-thinning, and nanoparticle concentration. We have formulated a mathematical model then simplified it under assumptions of long wavelength and low Reynold’s number. The resulting non-linear coupled differential equation system is solved numerically with the MATHEMATICA software aid using the built-in command (ParametricNDSolve). This study treated all non-dimensional parameters defined in terms of viscosity to be variables (VP-Model), unlike some previous literature attempts that have considered these parameters mentioned above as constants (CP-Model). The achieved results assured the reliability of the (VP-Model) over the (CP-Model). Our results reveal that temperature and microorganism density increase with the thermophoresis parameter. The impact of increasing the Brownian motion parameter is to increase temperature and lessen microorganism density. Outcomes also indicate an enhancement in the microorganism density towards the hypoxic tumor regions located aside the microvessel walls by boosting oxygen concentrations in the streamflow. The current study is believed to provide further opportunities to improve drug-carrier applications in hypoxic tumor regions by better recognizing the flow features, heat, and mass transfer in such zones.

Thermo-bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms in porous media in the presence of magnetic field

Purpose This study aims to explore magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) thermo-bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms in multi-physical directions addressing thermal gradient, lid motion, porous substance and magnetic field collectively using a typical differentially heated two-sided lid-driven cavity. The consequences of a range of pertinent parameters on the flow structure, temperature, oxygen isoconcentration and microorganisms’ isoconcentration are examined and explained in great detail. Design/methodology/approach Two-dimensional governing equations in a two-sided lid-driven porous cavity heated differentially and packed with oxytactic microorganisms under the influence of the magnetic field are solved numerically using the finite volume method-based computational fluid dynamics code. The evolved flow physics is analyzed assuming a steady laminar incompressible Newtonian flow within the validity of the Boussinesq approximation. The transport of oxytactic microorganisms is formulated by augmenting the continuum model. Findings The mechanisms involved with MHD-mixed thermo-bioconvection could have potential benefits for industrial exploitation. The distributions of fluid flow, temperature, oxygen and motile microorganisms are markedly modified with the change of convection regime. Both speed and direction of the translating walls significantly influence the concentration of the motile microorganisms. The concentration of oxygen and motile microorganisms is found to be higher at the upper portion of the cavity. The overall patterns of the fluid flow, temperature and the oxygen and microorganism distributions are markedly affected by the increase of magnetic field strength. Research limitations/implications The concept of the present study could be extended to other areas of bioconvection in the presence of gravity, light or chemical attraction. Practical implications The findings of the present study could be used to multi-physical applications like biomicrosystems, pollutant dispersion in aquifers, chemical catalytic converters, geothermal energy usage, petroleum oil reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery, fuel cells, thermal energy storage and others. Originality/value The MHD-mixed thermo-bioconvection of oxytactic microorganisms is investigated under different parametric conditions. The effect of pertinent parameters on the heat and mass transfers are examined using the Nusselt number and Sherwood number.

Oxytactic Microorganisms and Thermo-Bioconvection Nanofluid Flow Over a Porous Riga Plate with Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer Medium

The aim of this paper is to analyze the behavior of oxytactic microorganisms and thermo-bioconvection nanofluid flow through a Riga plate with a Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer porous medium. The Riga plate is composed of electrodes and magnets that are placed on a plane. The fluid is electrically conducting, and the Lorentz force evolves exponentially along the vertical direction. The governing equations are formulated with the help of dimensionless variables. With the aid of a shooting scheme, the numerical results are presented in graphs and tables. It is noted that the modified Hartmann number boosts the velocity profile when it is positive, but lowers these values when it is negative. The density-based Rayleigh number and the nanoparticle concentration enhance the fluid velocity. The thermal Rayleigh number and the Darcy–Forchheimer number decrease the velocity. An increase in Lewis number causes a remarkable decline in the oxytactic microorganism profile. Several useful results for these flows with oxytactic microorganisms through Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer porous media are presented in this paper.

Bioconvection in nanofluid-saturated porous square cavity containing oxytactic microorganisms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the bioconvection flow in a porous square cavity saturated with both oxytactic microorganism and nanofluids.Design/methodology/approachThe impacts of the effective parameters such as Rayleigh number, bioconvection number, Peclet number and thermophoretic force, Brownan motion and Lewis number reduces the flow strength in the cavity on the flow strength, oxygen density distribution, motile isoconcentrations and heat transfer performance are investigated using a finite volume approach.FindingsThe results obtained showed that the average Nusselt number is increased with Peclet number, Lewis number, Brownian motion and thermophoretic force. Also, the average Sherwood number increased with Brownian motion and Peclet number and decreased with thermophoretic force. It is concluded that the flow strength is pronounced with Rayleigh number, bioconvection number, Peclet number and thermophoretic force. Brownan motion and Lewis number reduce the flow strength in the cavity.Originality/valueThere is no published study in the literature about sensitivity analysis of Brownian motion and thermophoresis force effects on the bioconvection heat transfer in a square cavity filled by both nanofluid and oxytactic microorganisms.