FEM study of nonlinear MHD casson nanofluid flow with thermo-solutal transport and chemical reaction effects over a vertical stretching surface

This study investigates the nonlinear convective boundary layer, steady, and incompressible flow through a stretching surface characterized by Casson nanofluid properties, along with the combined effects of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), chemical reactions, heat generation with velocity slip and convective thermo and solutal boundary condition. The governing partial differential equations, which describe the coupled transport of momentum, mass, and energy, are reduced to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations through similarity transformation. These equations are further numerically solved using the finite element method (FEM) in conjunction with the Newton Raphson iteration to effectively address strong nonlinearities. The study examines the influence of key physical parameters, including the Prandtl number, magnetic parameter, Lewis number, thermophoresis, Brownian motion, chemical reaction rate with thermal and Solutal boundary condition, on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles. The findings indicate that an increase in the Prandtl number or chemical reaction rate results in reduced velocity and species concentration, whereas higher material parameter and thermophoresis enhance both flow and concentration fields. Engineering quantities such as the Sherwood number, skin friction, and Nusselt number are computed to illustrate the impact of concerned parameters on surface and transfer rates. The numerical results are validated by comparison with existing literature benchmark and show excellent agreement. The novelty of the work provides new insights by incorporating irregular heat source effects and slip boundary conditions in Casson nanofluid dynamics simultaneous consideration of internal heat generation, first-order velocity slip, and convective thermal/solutal conditions for Casson nanofluid flow over a stretching surface, with potential applications in thermal management, material processing, and biomedical technologies.