Steady magnetohydrodynamic radiating flow past a vertical porous plate

Abstract

Fluid motion generated by a vertical porous hot plate in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is studied when the viscous and ohmic dissipations are significant. Approximate solutions to the coupled non-linear equations governing the steady velocity, temperature, skin friction and rate of heat transfer are obtained invoking a perturbative series expansion in terms of the Eckert number Ec, since the Eckert, number Ec for all incompressible flows is small. We notice that the rate of heat transfer between the plate and the fluid is constant irrespective of the value of the magnetic parameter, Bo, but increases with decreasing values of the Prandtl number Pr. Our results show that the shear stress distribution is higher for strongly Newtonian fluids such as Mercury with Pr = 0.025, than it is for a non-Newtonian fluid such as air with Pr = 0.71. The study confirms that for this type of flow the temperature distribution decreases with increase in the radiation parameter. It is further shown in this study that increased heating of the plate results in an increase in the shear stress and vice versa.


(Botswana Journal of Technology: 2003 12(1): 1-6)