Magnetohydrodynamic Boundary Layer Slip Flow and Heat Transfer over a Flat Plate with Heat Generation/Absorption and Viscous Dissipation

Abstract

A numerical study has been carried out on the momentum and heat transfer characteristics of an incompressible magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer slip flow over a flat plate with both viscous and ohmic dissipations. Momentum boundary layer equation takes care of the magnetic field while the ohmic and viscous dissipations are accounted for by the thermal boundary layer equation. The governing equations constitute highly non-linear momentum and thermal boundary layer equations. Both are converted into similarity equations before being solved by the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg technique with shooting. The results are analyzed for both isothermal and non-isothermal boundary conditions for various combinations of flow and heat transfer parameters. Some of the important findings show that in the absence of both the magnetic and velocity slip parameters, the flow profiles are identical to those of Bhattacharyya et al. [1]. The combined effect of increasing both the magnetic and the slip velocity parameters significantly affects the velocity and the shear stress profiles. An increase of slip parameter results in a decrease in skin friction, whereas an increase in Eckart number enhances viscous dissipation and a consequential temperature rise especially at the boundary. Sometimes this may escalate to a level where a Dirichlet temperature specification is exceeded. Furthermore, the temperature gradient is highly sensitive to prescribed values of Prandtl number and heat generation parameter.