Abstract

The paper studied unsteady free convection-radiation flow of an incompressible fluid with variable thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity (Soret) under the simultaneous action of buoyancy and transverse magnetic field past an accelerated isothermal vertical porous plate with heat dissipation. The coupled partial differential equations governing the problem were solved numerically using implicit finite difference scheme of Crank Nicolson method. Results of the computation for velocity, temperature, and concentration were graphically presented for various parameters embedded in the problem. The numerical computation shows that velocity and temperature of the fluid increases with increasing variable thermal conductivity and viscous dissipation term, while decreases with increasing the Prandtl number and thermal radiation parameter. A remarkable increase in the velocity and concentration of the fluid is observed when thermal diffusion parameter is large. A reverse phenomenon was observed when Schmidt number is large.

Key words: Variable thermal conductivity, Thermo-diffusion, Accelerated, Isothermal, Magnetohydrodynamic