Linear stability of homogeneous elongational flow of the upper convected Maxwell fluid

We prove that planar elongational flow of the upper convected Maxwell fluid is linearly stable and analyze the associated spectral problem.     

MHD flow of upper-convected Maxwell fluid over porous stretching sheet using successive Taylor series linearization method

This paper investigates the magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) boundary layer flow of an incompressible upper-convected Maxwell(UCM) fluid over a porous stretching surface.Similarity transformations are used to reduce the governing partial differential equations into a kind of nonlinear ordinary differential equations.The nonlinear problem is solved by using the successive Taylor series linearization method(STSLM).The computations for velocity components are carried out for the emerging parameters.The numerical values of the skin friction coefficient are presented and analyzed for various parameters of interest in the problem.     

Soret and Dufour effects on magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） flow of Casson fluid

This article studies the Soret and Dufour effects on the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of the Casson fluid over a stretched surface. The relevant equations are first derived, and the series solution is constructed by the homotopic procedure. The results for velocities, temperature, and concentration fields are displayed and discussed. Numerical values of the skin friction coefficient, the Nusselt number, and the Sherwood number for different values of physical parameters are constructed and analyzed. The convergence of the series solutions is examined.     

MHD boundary-layer flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid in a porous channel

Two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid is investigated in a channel. The walls of the channel are taken as porous. Using the similarity transformations and boundary layer approximations, the nonlinear partial differential equations are reduced to an ordinary differential equation. The developed nonlinear equation is solved analytically using the homotopy analysis method. An expression for the analytic solution is derived in the form of a series. The convergence of the obtained series is shown. The effects of the Reynolds number Re, Deborah number De and Hartman number M are shown through graphs and discussed for both the suction and injection cases.     

MHD flow and heat transfer of micropolar fluid between two porous disks

A numerical study is carried out for the axisymmetric steady laminar incompressible flow of an electrically conducting micropolar fluid between two infinite parallel porous disks with the constant uniform injection through the surface of the disks. The fluid is subjected to an external transverse magnetic field. The governing nonlinear equations of motion are transformed into a dimensionless form through von Karman’s similarity transformation. An algorithm based on a finite difference scheme is used to solve the reduced coupled ordinary differential equations under associated boundary conditions. The effects of the Reynolds number, the magnetic parameter, the micropolar parameter, and the Prandtl number on the flow velocity and temperature distributions are discussed. The results agree well with those of the previously published work for special cases. The investigation predicts that the heat transfer rate at the surfaces of the disks increases with the increases in the Reynolds number, the magnetic parameter, and the Prandtl number. The shear stresses decrease with the increase in the injection while increase with the increase in the applied magnetic field. The shear stress factor is lower for micropolar fluids than for Newtonian fluids, which may be beneficial in the flow and thermal control in the polymeric processing.     

MHD Falkner-Skan flow of Maxwell fluid by rational Chebyshev collocation method

The magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） Falkner-Skan flow of the Maxwell fluid is studied. Suitable transform reduces the partial differential equation into a nonlinear three order boundary value problem over a semi-infinite interval. An efficient approach based on the rational Chebyshev collocation method is performed to find the solution to the proposed boundary value problem. The rational Chebyshev collocation method is equipped with the orthogonal rational Chebyshev function which solves the problem on the semi-infinite domain without truncating it to a finite domain. The obtained results are presented through the illustrative graphs and tables which demonstrate the affectivity, stability, and convergence of the rational Chebyshev collocation method. To check the accuracy of the obtained results, a numerical method is applied for solving the problem. The variations of various embedded parameters into the problem are examined.     

Melting heat transfer in the stagnation‐point flow of an upper‐convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid past a stretching sheet

The steady laminar boundary layer flow and heat transfer past a stretching sheet arre considered. Upper‐convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid is treated as a rheological model. The resulting nonlinear differential system is solved by homotopy analysis method (HAM). The influence of melting parameter (M), Prandtl number (Pr), Deborah number (β) and stretching ratio (A = a/c) on the velocity and temperature profiles is thoroughly examined. It is noticed that fields are effected appreciably with the variation of parameters. Furthermore, it is seen that the local Nusselt number is a decreasing function of melting parameter. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exact solutions of MHD second Stokes flow of generalized Burgers fluid

This work concerns with the exact solutions of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of generalized Burgers fluid describing the second Stokes problem. The modified Darcy law is taken into account. The related velocity distribution and shear stress are expressed as a combination of steady-state and transient solutions computed by means of integral transformations. The effects of various parameters on the flow field are investigated. The MHD flow results in reduction of velocity distribution and associated thickness of the boundary layer.     

Second-order slip MHD flow and heat transfer of nanofluids with thermal radiation and chemical reaction

The effects of the second-order velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions on the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow and heat transfer in the presence of nanoparticle fractions are investigated. In the modeling of the water-based nanofluids containing Cu and Al₂O₃, the effects of the Brownian motion, thermophoresis, and thermal radiation are considered. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed into a system of nonlinear differential equations, and the analytical approximations of the solutions are derived by the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The reliability and efficiency of the HAM solutions are verified by the residual errors and the numerical results in the literature. Moreover, the effects of the physical factors on the flow and heat transfer are discussed graphically.     

MHD flow of power-law fluid on moving surface with power-law velocity and special injection/blowing

The problem of magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） flow on a moving surface with the power-law velocity and special injection/blowing is investigated. A scaling group transformation is used to reduce the governing equations to a system of ordinary differen- tial equations. The skin friction coefficients of the MHD boundary layer flow are derived, and the approximate solutions of the flow characteristics are obtained with the homotopy analysis method （HAM）. The approximate solutions are easily computed by use of a high order iterative procedure, and the effects of the power-law index, the magnetic parameter, and the special suction/blowing parameter on the dynamics are analyzed. The obtained results are compared with the numerical results published in the literature, verifying the reliability of the approximate solutions.     

Steady mixed convection stagnation-point flow of upper convected Maxwell fluids with magnetic field

The steady MHD mixed convection flow of a viscoelastic fluid in the vicinity of two-dimensional stagnation point with magnetic field has been investigated under the assumption that the fluid obeys the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) model. Boundary layer theory is used to simplify the equations of motion, induced magnetic field and energy which results in three coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which are well-posed. These equations have been solved by using finite difference method. The results indicate the reduction in the surface velocity gradient, surface heat transfer and displacement thickness with the increase in the elasticity number. These trends are opposite to those reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid. The surface velocity gradient and heat transfer are enhanced by the magnetic and buoyancy parameters. The surface heat transfer increases with the Prandtl number, but the surface velocity gradient decreases.     

Dual solutions in MHD stagnation-point flow of Prandtl fluid impinging on shrinking sheet

The present article investigates the dual nature of the solution of the magneto- hydrodynamic （MHD） stagnation-point flow of a Prandtl fluid model towards a shrinking surface. The self-similar nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically by the shooting： method. It is found that the dual solutions of the flow exist for cer- tain values of tile velocity ratio parameter. The special case of the first branch solutions （the classical Newtonian fluid model） is compared with the present numerical results of stretching flow. The results are found to be in good agreement. It is also shown that the boundary layer thickness for the second solution is thicker than that for the first solution.     

MHD mixed convection for viscoelastic fluid past a porous wedge

A magnetic hydrodynamic (MHD) mixed convective heat transfer problem of a second-grade viscoelastic fluid past a wedge with porous suction or injection has been studied. Governing equations include continuity equation, momentum equation and energy equation of the fluid. It has been analyzed by a combination of a series expansion method, the similarity transformation and a second-order accurate finite-difference method. Solutions of wedge flow on the wedge surface have been obtained by a generalized Falkner-Skan flow derivation. Some important parameters have been discussed by this study, which include the Prandtl number (Pr), the elastic number (E), the free convection parameter (G) and the magnetic parameter (M), the porous suction and injection parameter (C) and the wedge shape factor (β). Results indicated that elastic effect (E) in the flow could increase the local heat transfer coefficient and enhance the heat transfer of a wedge. In addition, similar to the results from Newtonian fluid flow and conduction analysis of a wedge, better heat transfer is obtained with a larger G and Pr.     

Three‐dimensional flow of upper‐convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid

An analysis has been carried out for three‐dimensional fluid over a stretching surface. Similarity transformations are invoked for the conversion of nonlinear partial differential equations to the ordinary differential equations. Computations for the series solution are made by using homotopy analysis method. Graphical results are obtained. Attention has been particularly given to the influence of Deborah number. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemical reaction effects on unsteady MHD flow past semi-infinite vertical porous plate with viscous dissipation

The chemical reaction effect on an unsteady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow past a semi-infinite vertical porous plate with viscous dissipation is analyzed. The governing equations of motion, energy, and species are transformed into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using the time dependent similarity parameter. The resultant ODEs are then solved numerically by a finite element method. The effects of various parameters on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are presented graphically, and the values of the skin-friction, Nusselt number, and Sherwood number for various values of physical parameters are presented through tables.     

MHD stagnation-point flow and heat transfer towards stretching sheet with induced magnetic field

The problem of the steady magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a stretching sheet is studied. The effect of an induced magnetic field is taken into account. The nonlinear partial differential equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations via the similarity transformation. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically using the shooting method. Numerical results are obtained for various magnetic parameters and Prandtl numbers. The effects of the induced magnetic field on the skin friction coefficient, the local Nusselt number, the velocity, and the temperature profiles are presented graphically and discussed in detail.     

Numerical simulation of mass transfer to micropolar fluid flow past a stenosed artery

A mathematical model of unsteady non‐Newtonian blood flow together with the mass transfer through constricted arteries has been developed. The mass transport refers to the movement of atherogenic molecules, i.e. blood‐borne components, such as low‐density lipoproteins from flowing blood into the arterial walls or vice versa. The flowing blood is represented as the suspension of all erythrocytes assumed to be Eringen's micropolar fluid and the arterial wall is considered to be rigid having cosine‐shaped stenosis in its lumen. The mass transfer to blood is controlled by the convection–diffusion equation. The governing equations of motion accompanied by the appropriate choice of the boundary conditions are solved numerically by Marker and Cell method and the results obtained are checked for numerical stability with the desired degree of accuracy. The quantitative analysis carried out finally includes the respective profiles of the flow‐field and the mass concentration along with their distributions over the entire arterial segment as well. The key factors, such as the wall shear stress and Sherwood number, are also examined for further quantitative insight into the flow and the mass transport phenomena through arterial stenosis. The present results show consistency with several existing results in the literature which substantiate sufficiently to validate the applicability of the model under consideration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Soret and Dufour effects on unsteady MHD flow past an infinite vertical porous plate with thermal radiation

The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of flow parameters on the free convection and mass transfer of an unsteady magnetohydrodynamic flow of an electrically conducting, viscous, and incompressible fluid past an infinite vertical porous plate under oscillatory suction velocity and thermal radiation. The Dufour （diffusion thermo） and Soret （thermal diffusion） effects are taken into account. The problem is solved numerically using the finite element method for the velocity, the temperature, and the concentration field. The expression for the skin friction, the rate of heat and mass transfer is obtained. The results are presented numerically through graphs and tables for the externally cooled plate （Gr 〉 0） and the externally heated plate （Gr 〈 0） to observe the effects of various parameters encountered in the equations.     

Approximate solutions to MHD Falkner-Skan flow over permeable wall

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Falkner-Skan boundary layer flow over a permeable wall in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is examined. The approximate solutions and skin friction coefficients of the MHD boundary layer flow are obtained by using a method that couples the differential transform method (DTM) with the Padé approximation called DTM-Padé. The approximate solutions are expressed in the form of a power series that can be easily computed with an iterative procedure. The approximate solutions are tabulated, plotted for the values of different parameters and compared with the numerical ones obtained by employing the shooting technique. It is found that the approximate solution agrees very well with the numerical solution, showing the reliability and validity of the present work. Moreover, the effects of various physical parameters on the boundary layer flow are presented graphically and discussed.     

Time-dependent three-dimensional flow and mass transfer of elastico-viscous fluid over unsteady stretching sheet

This article studies the three-dimensional boundary layer flow of an elasticoviscous fluid over a stretching surface. Velocity of the stretching sheet is assumed to be time-dependent. Effect of mass transfer with higher order chemical reaction is further considered. Computations are made by the homptopy analysis method (HAM). Convergence of the obtained series solutions is explicitly analyzed. Variations of embedding parameters on the velocity and concentration are graphically discussed. Numerical computations of surface mass transfer are reported. Comparison of the present results with the numerical solutions is also given.