Numerical study of forced and free convective boundary layer flow of a magnetic fluid over a flat plate under the action of a localized magnetic field

The two-dimensional, steady, laminar, forced and free convective boundary layer flow of a magnetic fluid over a semi-infinite vertical plate, under the action of a localized magnetic field, is numerically studied. The magnetic fluid is considered to be water-based with temperature dependent viscosity and thermal conductivity. The study of the boundary layer is separated into two cases. In case I the boundary layer is studied near the leading edge, where it is dominated by the large viscous forces, whereas in case II the boundary layer is studied far from the leading edge of the plate where the effects of buoyancy forces increase. The numerical solution, for these two different cases, is obtained by an efficient numerical technique based on the common finite difference method. Numerical calculations are carried out for the value of Prandl number Pr =  49.832 (water-based magnetic fluid) and for different values of the dimensionless parameters entering into the problem and especially for the magnetic parameter Mn, the viscosity/temperature parameter Θ _r and the thermal/conductivity parameter S*. The analysis of the obtained results show that the flow field is influenced by the application of the magnetic field as well as by the variation of the viscosity and the thermal conductivity of the fluid with temperature. It is hoped that they could be interesting for engineering applications.