Effects of thermal radiation and variable fluid viscosity on stagnation point flow past a porous stretching sheet

Abstract

Similarity analysis is performed to investigate the structure of the boundary layer stagnation-point flow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet subject to suction. Fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. Thermal radiation term is considered in the energy equation. The symmetry groups admitted by the corresponding boundary value problem are obtained by using a special form of Lie group transformations viz. scaling group of transformations. With the help of them the partial differential equations corresponding to momentum and energy equations are transformed into highly non-linear ordinary differential equations. Numerical solutions of these equations are obtained by shooting method. It is found that the horizontal velocity increases with the increasing values of the ratio of the free stream velocity to the stretching velocity. Velocity increases with the increasing temperature dependent fluid viscosity parameter when the free-stream velocity is less than the stretching velocity but opposite behavior is noted when the free-stream velocity is greater than the stretching velocity. Due to suction, fluid velocity decreases at a particular point of the surface. Temperature at a point of the surface is found to decrease with increasing thermal radiation.