MHD effect of mixed convection boundary-layer flow of Powell-Eyring fluid past nonlinear stretching surface

Abstract

Sufficient conditions are found for the existence of similar solutions of the mixed convection flow of a Powell-Eyring fluid over a nonlinear stretching permeable surface in the presence of magnetic field. To achieve this, one parameter linear group transformation is applied. The governing momentum and energy equations are transformed to nonlinear ordinary differential equations by use of a similarity transformation. These equations are solved by the homotopy analysis method (HAM) to obtain the approximate solutions. The effects of magnetic field, suction, and buoyancy on the Powell-Eyring fluid flow with heat transfer inside the boundary layer are analyzed. The effects of the non-Newtonian fluid (Powell-Eyring model) parameters ɛ and δ on the skin friction and local heat transfer coefficients for the cases of aiding and opposite flows are investigated and discussed. It is observed that the momentum boundary layer thickness increases and the thermal boundary layer thickness decreases with the increase in ɛ whereas the momentum boundary layer thickness decreases and thermal boundary layer thickness increases with the increase in δ for both the aiding and opposing mixed convection flows.