Convective Flow Of Micropolar Fluid In A Porous Medium With Variable Electric Conductivity, Surface Heat Flux And Nonuniform Heat Source (Or Sink)

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of the fluid electric conductivity, non-uniform heat source (or sink), suction and variable surface heat flux on the two-dimensional steady hydromagnetic convective flow of a micropolar fluid (in comparison with the Newtonian fluid) flowing along an inclined permeable flat plate embedded in a fluid saturated porous medium. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into locally similar ordinary differential equations and solved numerically. The local similarity solutions are presented graphically for the velocity distribution, microrotation, and the temperature profiles in the boundary layer. The data for the skin-friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are tabulated for convenient use. The significance of the physical parameters on the flow field is discussed in detail. The results show that the skin-friction coefficient and the Nusselt number are lower for the micropolar fluid for both the cases of constant fluid electric conductivity and the variable fluid electric conductivity when compared with the Newtonian fluid. This observation is valid for both porous and non-porous media. The effect of temperature dependent heat generation is much stronger than the effect of surface dependent heat generation even in the presence of a porous medium, suction at the plate surface and variable surface heat flux. The results also show that effects of the fluid electric conductivity, non-uniform heat generation, suction, presence of porous medium and variable surface heat flux in a micropolar fluid are less pronounced compared with those in a Newtonian fluid.