Development of mixed convection flow over a vertical plate due to an impulsive motion

The development of the mixed convection flow of an incompressible laminar viscous fluid over a semi-infinite vertical plate has been investigated when the fluid in the external stream is set into motion impulsively, and at the same the surface temperature is suddenly raised from its ambient temperature. The problem is formulated in such a way that at time t = 0, it reduces to Rayleigh type of equation and as time t , it tends to Blasius type of equation. The scale of time has been selected such that the traditional infinite region of integration becomes finite which significantly reduces the computational time. The nonlinear coupled singular parabolic partial differential equations governing the unsteady mixed convection flow have been solved numerically by using an implicit finite-difference scheme. The surface shear stress and the heat transfer increase or decrease with time when the buoyancy parameter is greater or less than a certain valve. There is a smooth transition from the initial steady state to the final steady state. The skin friction and heat transfer for the constant heat flux case are more than those of the constant wall temperature case. Also they increase with the buoyancy force.