Integration of Group Method Analysis and Rough Sets Theory to Investigate Heat and Mass Transfer of the Flow of a Non-Newtonian Nanofluid towards a Vertical Stretching Surface

This work reports how to utilize rough set theory and group method analysis for generating a set of rules to investigate heat and mass transfer of mixed convection stagnation point flow of a non-Newtonian nanofluid towards a vertical stretching surface. By utilizing group method analysis, the main partial differential equations which describe the flow are rehabilitated to nonlinear Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs). Then, the resultant nonlinear ODEs are solved numerically by applying the implicit finite-difference scheme. The numerical values thus obtained are depicted in tabular form and the basic principles of rough sets are applied to get all reducts and finally a group of generalized rules are extracted to predict the value of local Nusselt number and local skin-friction coefficient. The outcomes demonstrate the novelty of the current work which can be summarized as hybridization of group method analysis and rough set theory to use in the field of fluid dynamics effectively. The resultant set of generalized classification rules which performed with basic logic functions can be considered as knowledge base with high accuracy and may be valuable in many engineering applications like power production, thermal extrusion systems and microelectronics.