Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics (Jan 2011)
Mass Transfer Effects on Unsteady Hydromagnetic Convective Flow past a Vertical Porous Plate in a Porous Medium with Heat Source
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of mass transfer on unsteady hydromagnetic free convective flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid past an infinite vertical porous plate in presence of constant suction and heat source. The governing equations of the flow field are solved using multi parameter perturbation technique and approximate solutions are obtained for velocity field, temperature field, concentration distribution, skin friction and the rate of heat transfer. The effects of the flow parameters such as Hartmann number M, Grashof number for heat and mass transfer Gr, Gc; permeability parameter Kp, Schmidt number Sc, heat source parameter S, Prandtl number Pr etc. on the flow field are analyzed with the help of figures and tables. It is observed that a growing Hartmann number or Schmidt number retards the mean velocity as well as the transient velocity of the flow field at all points. The effect of increasing Grashof number for heat and mass transfer or heat source parameter is to accelerate both mean and transient velocity of the flow field at all points. The mean velocity of the flow field increases with an increase in permeability parameter while the transient velocity increases for smaller values of Kp (≤1) and for higher values the effect reverses. A growing Hartmann number decreases the transient temperature of the flow field at all points while a growing permeability parameter or heat source parameter reverses the effect. The Prandtl number increases the transient temperature for small values of Pr (≤1) and for higher values the effect reverses. The effect of increasing Schmidt number is to reduce the concentration boundary layer thickness of the flow field at all points. The problem has some relevance in the geophysical and astrophysical studies.
