Thermodynamic Irreversibility in Ternary Hybrid Nanofluid Flow over a Curved Stretching Sheet with Thermal Dissipation Effects

• Entropy generation in ternary hybrid nanofluid flow over a curved stretching surface is analyzed. • Surface curvature significantly alters velocity, temperature, pressure, and entropy profiles. • Viscous dissipation and Eckert numbers strongly enhance thermal irreversibility. • Ternary hybrid nanofluids generate higher entropies than conventional nanofluids. • Increased nanoparticle volume fraction improves heat transfer but raises entropy generation. Hybrid and ternary hybrid nanofluids have attracted considerable attention owing to their superior thermal transport characteristics compared with conventional nanofluids, resulting from the synergistic interaction of multiple nanoparticles suspended in a base fluid. These advanced fluids are particularly promising for high-performance thermal systems where enhanced heat transfer and improved thermodynamic efficiency are essential. In this study, the heat transfer and entropy generation characteristics of a ternary hybrid nanofluid flowing over a curved stretching surface are investigated. The ternary hybrid nanofluid comprises copper ( C u ) , aluminum oxide ( A l 2 O 3 ) , and ferrous oxide ( F e 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles dispersed in water and is modeled using the Tiwari–Das formulation. The governing momentum and energy equations are formulated in curvilinear coordinates to incorporate the effects of surface curvature, with viscous dissipation included to account for frictional heating. Appropriate similarity transformations reduce the governing partial differential equations into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which are solved numerically using the BVP4C technique. Entropy generation is evaluated within the curvilinear framework based on the numerical solutions. Validation against published results confirms the accuracy of the model. The findings reveal that increasing the dimensionless curvature radius decreases both temperature distribution and entropy generation, while the ternary hybrid nanofluid exhibits higher entropy generation than conventional nanofluids under comparable conditions.