Mixed convection heat transfer over a non-linear stretching surface with variable fluid properties

This article presents a numerical solution for the steady two-dimensional mixed convection MHD flow of an electrically conducting viscous fluid over a vertical stretching sheet, in its own plane. The stretching velocity and the transverse magnetic field are assumed to vary as a power function of the distance from the origin. The temperature dependent fluid properties, namely, the fluid viscosity and the thermal conductivity are assumed to vary, respectively, as an inverse function of the temperature and a linear function of the temperature. A generalized similarity transformation is introduced to study the influence of temperature dependent fluid properties. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically, using a finite difference scheme known as Keller Box method, for several sets of values of the physical parameters, namely, the stretching parameter, the temperature dependent viscosity parameter, the magnetic parameter, the mixed convection parameter, the temperature dependent thermal conductivity parameter and the Prandtl number. The numerical results thus obtained for the flow and heat transfer characteristics reveal many interesting behaviors. These behaviors warrant further study of the effects of the physical parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. Here it may be noted that, in the case of the classical Navier-Stokes fluid flowing past a horizontal stretching sheet, McLeod and Rajagopal (1987) 42 showed that there exist an unique solution to the problem. This may not be true in the present case. Hence we would like to explore the non-uniqueness of the solution and present the findings in the subsequent paper. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved