Joule heating and MHD effects in flow of second-grade fluid due to a rotating disk with variable thickness

Abstract

The present article describes the magnetohydrodynamic flow of a second-grade fluid due to a rotating disk with a surface of variable thickness. The heat transfer process is accompanied with thermal radiation and Joule heating. A transformation procedure is adopted for the resulting nonlinear system. The obtained series solutions of velocity and temperature are convergent. The effects of the appropriate parameters on the flow field, temperature, skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number are illustrated by plotting graphs. It is found that the Hartman number decreases the velocity field. The reverse behavior is observed regarding the temperature, for larger values of Prandtl number and radiation parameter. Further, an increase in disk thickness index enhances the magnitude of the skin friction coefficient. The magnitude of the Nusselt number decays for rising values of the Prandtl number.