Effect of sudden suction on the hydromagnetic natural convection from a vertical plate

The effects of step function change in suction velocity are investigated for a natural convection flow from a vertical porous flat plate of infinite length in the presence of transverse magnetic field for two cases namely (i) when the plate is suddenly raised to a uniform higher temperature, (ii) when the plate suddenly begins to generate a uniform heat flux at its surface. In (i) the coefficient of heat transfer becomes independent of the Hartmann numberM. In either case for a fixed time t except for correct steady state t→ ∞, the effect of the Hartmann number is to decrease both the velocity of the fluid and the skin-friction at the plate. In the correct steady state the velocity field and the skin-fiiction become independent of the Hartmann number.