Unsteady MHD natural convection flow of a rotating viscoelastic fluid over an infinite vertical porous plate due to oscillating free-stream

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an analytical study on an unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of a rotating viscoelastic fluid over an infinite vertical porous plate embedded in a uniform porous medium with oscillating free-stream taking Hall and ion-slip currents into account. The unsteady MHD flow in the rotating fluid system is generated due to the buoyancy forces arising from temperature and concentration differences in the field of gravity and oscillatory movement of the free-stream.Design/methodology/approachThe resulting partial differential equations governing the fluid motion are solved analytically using the regular perturbation method by assuming a very small viscoelastic parameter. In order to note the influences of various system parameters and to discuss the important flow features, the numerical results for fluid velocity, temperature and species concentration are computed and depicted graphically vs boundary layer parameter whereas skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number at the plate are computed and presented in tabular form.FindingsAn interesting observation is recorded that there occurs a reversal flow in the secondary flow direction due to the movement of the free stream. It is also noted that a decrease in the suction parameter gives a rise in momentum, thermal and concentration boundary layer thicknesses.Originality/valueVery little research work is reported in the literature on non-Newtonian fluid dynamics where unsteady flow in the system arises due to time-dependent movement of the plate. The motive of the present analytical study is to analyse the influences of Hall and ion-slip currents on unsteady MHD natural convection flow of a rotating viscoelastic fluid (non-Newtonian fluid) over an infinite vertical porous plate embedded in a uniform porous medium with oscillating free-stream.