Coupled heat and mass transfer in mixed convection over a vertical flat plate embedded in saturated porous media: PST/PSC or PHF/PMF

A boundary layer analysis is used to investigate the heat and mass transfer characteristics of mixed convection about a vertical flat plate embedded in a saturated porous medium under the coupled effects of thermal and mass diffusion. The plate is maintained at prescribed surface temperature/concentration (PST/PSC) or prescribed heat/mass flux (PHF/PMF). The nonsimilar governing equations are obtained by using a suitable transformation and solved by Keller box method. Numerical results for the local heat transfer rate and the local mass transfer rate are presented for various parameters. The local heat and mass transfer rates increase with increasing n and m and buoyancy parameter ξ. When buoyancy parameter ξ is very small (large) the value of local Nusselt and the local Sherwood number correspond with the pure forced (free) convection, respectively. Increasing buoyancy ratio N (or N ^*) increases the local heat and mass transfer rates. It is apparent that Lewis number has a pronounced effect on the local mass transfer rate than it does on the local heat transfer rate. Furthermore, increasing Lewis number decreases (increases) the local heat (mass) transfer rate. Received on 8 December 1997