Buoyancy Effects on Unsteady MHD Flow of a Reactive Third-Grade Fluid with Asymmetric Convective Cooling

Authors

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080 USA

2 Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X2, Saldanha 7395, South Africa

Abstract

This article examines the combined effects of buoyancy force and asymmetrical convective cooling on unsteady MHD channel flow and heat transfer characteristics of an incompressible, reactive, variable viscosity and electrically conducting third grade fluid. The chemical kinetics in the flow system is exothermic and the asymmetric convective heat transfers at the channel walls follow the Newton’s law of cooling. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations governing the problem are derived and solved numerically using a semi-implicit finite difference scheme. Graphical results are presented and physical aspects of the problem are discussed with respect to various parameters embedded in the system.

Keywords