Computational study of bioconvection rheological nanofluid flow containing gyrotactic microorganisms: a model for bioengineering nanofluid fuel cells

Abstract

The recent advancements in using micro-organisms effectively for biofuels are the key reason for conducting this study. Therefore, the current theoretical work addresses the Oswald – DeWaele power-law models of bioconvection nanofluid flow containing both nanoparticles and gyrotactic microorganisms. This study has examined two major elements of gyrotactic microorganisms: swimming behavior and the development of bioconvection structures. In addition, the Lie-group approach of transformations is used to establish similarity representations of the governing equations rather than the existing transformations. To achieve the model's aims, the Legendre-based collocation method (LBCM) was adopted. The findings are analyzed using graphs to examine the patterns of the relevant parameters in the problem. Compared with existing results, the present analysis is effective, fast-converging, and accurate. The bioconvection parameters have a significant impact on the density of motile microorganisms, nanoparticle volume fraction, flow momentum, and temperature distribution. Furthermore, the current work finds application in nanofluid fuel.