Computational analysis of melting radiative heat transfer for solar Riga trough collectors of Jeffrey hybrid-nanofluid flow: A new stochastic approach

Current investigation deals with the melting heat transfer for the Jeffrey hybrid-nanofluid flow in parabolic trough solar collectors through Darcy Forchheimer porous media over a variable thick vertical elongation Riga surface under the effect of solar radiation. The impacts of viscous dissipation and Joule heating are also investigated. Equations governing the Jeffrey’s hybrid nanofluid flow are higher-order non-linear partial differential equations (PDEs). These governing PDEs are transformed into the non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) by introducing appropriate similarity transformations and dimensionless parameters. Runga Kutta’s fourth-order numerical scheme is implemented with the shooting technique to solve coupled higher-order ODEs. Results for velocity profile, temperature profile, drag coefficient and Nusselt number are discussed for various influential parameters. Artificial neural networking is also performed to predict Nusselt numbers in different cases and scenarios. The Artificial Neural Network gives the desired outputs with the highest possible accuracy. It is observed that the temperature profile rises with increase in Hartmann number, porosity parameter, and Forchheimer number. However thermal profile worsens with escalates in the exponential index. Radiant energy of the Sun is a renewable energy source available in considerable amounts in our living environment. A parabolic trough solar collector is an efficient solar collector that stores the concentrated incoming radiant energy from the Sun to fulfill the requirement of high temperatures in thermal energy storage systems. It has various applications in solar-powered appliances for cooking and air conditioning, solar-powered systems for treating wastewater, photovoltaic lighting, solar-powered cars, aircraft, etc.