Radiation effects on transient magnetohydrodynamic natural convection flow with heat generation

In the present investigation, we have considered the radiation effects on a transient two-dimensional natural convection laminar boundary-layer flow of viscous incompressible electrically conducting and optically dense fluid along a vertical flat surface with heat generation. Using a method of transformed coordinates, the boundary-layer equations are transformed into a new form. The transformed equations can then be solved straight forwardly by any numerical methods designed for regular and stationary geometries. In this paper, an implicit finite difference scheme is used. The governing equations have been reduced in the form that are valid for small and large time regimes, by using stream-function formulation. The results obtained for the above mentioned three time regimes are compared and found in excellent agreement. Moreover, the solutions are also obtained in terms of transient local shear stress, transient local rate of heat transfer, transient velocity and temperature distribution for a wide range of parameters Plank constant Rd, surface temperature variation parameter theta(w). Hartman number M and heat generation parameter lambda for the liquid metals having Prandtl number Pr = 0.005, 0.05 and 0.1. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.