Unsteady flow and heat transfer of a mhd micropolar fluid over a porous stretching sheet in the presence of thermal radiation

Abstract

A non-linear analysis has been made to study the unsteady hydromagnetic boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a micropolar fluid over a stretching sheet embedded in a porous medium. The effects of thermal radiation in the boundary layer flow over a stretching sheet have also been investigated. The system of governing partial differential equations in the boundary layer have reduced to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations using a suitable similarity transformation. The resulting non-linear coupled ordinary differential equations are solved numerically by using an implicit finite difference scheme. The numerical results concern with the axial velocity, micro-rotation component and temperature profiles as well as local skin-friction coefficient and the rate of heat transfer at the sheet. The study reveals that the unsteady parameter S has an increasing effect on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. © 2013 The Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, R.O.C.