Radiation Effects on the MHD Mixed Free-Forced Convective Flow Past a Semi-Infinite Moving Vertical Plate for High Temperature Differences

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of radiation on the MHD mixed free-forced convective steady laminar boundary layer flow of an optically thick electrically conducting viscous fluid, past a moving semi-infinite vertical plate, for large temperature differences. A uniform magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the plate. The density of the fluid is assumed to decrease exponentially with temperature. The usual Boussinesq approximation is neglected due to the large temperature difference between the plate and the fluid. The Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. With appropriate similarity transformations, the boundary layer equations governing the flow are reduced to ordinary differential equations, which are numerically solved by applying the Runge-Kutta method with the shooting technique. The effects of the radiation parameter R, the local magnetic parameter Mx and the density/temperature parameter n are examined on the velocity and temperature distributions as well as the coefficients of skin-friction and heat flux.