Heat and Mass Transfer Analysis of an Unsteady MHD Flow Past an Impulsively Started Vertical Plate in Presence of Thermal Radiation

Abstract

The present paper aims at investigating the boundary layer flow of an unsteady MHD free convection heat and mass transfer flow of a viscous, incompressible and electrically conducting fluid over an impulsively started infinite vertical plate in presence of thermal radiation. The magnetic Reynolds number is considered to be so small that the induced magnetic field can be neglected. Exact solution of the governing equations is obtained in closed form by Laplace transform technique. Expression for skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are derived. The numerical values of fluid velocity, fluid temperature and species concentration are displayed graphically whereas the numerical values of skin friction, the Nusselt number and the Sherwood number are presented in tabular form for various values of pertinent flow parameters. It is being found that the mass diffusion tends to reduce the fluid velocity whereas thermal radiation has reverse effect on the fluid velocity throughout the boundary layer region. Mass diffusion tends to reduce the species concentration whereas time has reverse effect on the species concentration throughout the boundary layer region. The radiation parameter and mass diffusion decreases the skin friction whereas Prandtl number has reverse effect on it. The radiation parameter reduces the rate of heat transfer whereas as time progress the rate of heat transfer is getting accelerated.