A new numerical approach to MHD stagnation point flow and heat transfer towards a stretching sheet

Abstract

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stagnation point flow and heat transfer problem from a stretching sheet in the presence of a heat source/sink and suction/injection in porous media is studied in this paper. The governing partial differential equations are solved using the Chebyshev spectral method based perturbation approach. The method, namely the spectral perturbation method (SPM), is a series expansion technique which extends the use of the standard perturbation approach by coupling it with the Chebyshev pseudo-spectral method. Series solutions for small velocity ratio and asymptotic solutions for large velocity ratio are generated and the results are also validated against those obtained using the spectral quasi-linearisation method (SQLM). It is seen from this study that the SPM can be used as an alternative approach to find numerical solutions for complicated expansions encountered in perturbation schemes. The results are benchmarked with previously published results.

Keywords

• Chebyshev spectral method
• Perturbation approach
• Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)
• Heat source/sink
• Porous media