Transient free convection with mass transfer MHD micropolar fluid in a porous plate by the network method

The transient problem of coupled heat and mass transfer of a micropolar fluid in magneto‐hydrodynamic free convection from a vertical infinite porous plate with an exponentially decaying heat generating considering the viscous dissipation and ohmic heating effects is studied. Joule heating must be considered when the viscous dissipation and the Prandtl number are large. The non‐dimensional equations for the conservation of mass, momentum, energy and concentration are solved by means a numerical technique based on electric analogy (network simulation method). This method provides the numerical response of the system by running the network in circuit resolution software with the solution to both transient and steady‐state problems at the same time, and its programming does not require manipulation of the sophisticated mathematical software that is inherent in other numerical methods. The effects of the material parameters, viscous dissipation, internal generation and Joule heating on velocity, angular momentum and temperature fields across the boundary layer are investigated. In addition, the skin‐friction coefficient, couple stress coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are shown in tabular form. The numerical results for velocity and temperature distributions of micropolar fluids are compared with the corresponding flow problems for a Newtonian fluid. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.