Unsteady/Steady Hydromagnetic Convective Flow between Two Vertical Walls in the Presence of Variable Thermal Conductivity

Abstract

Unsteady as well as steady natural convection flow in a vertical channel in the presence of uniform magnetic field applied normal to the flow region and temperature dependent variable thermal conductivity is studied. The nonlinear partial differential equations governing the flow have been solved numerically using unconditionally stable and convergent semi-implicit finite difference scheme. For steady case, approximate solutions have been derived for velocity, temperature, skin friction, and the rate of heat transfer using perturbation series method. Results of the computations for velocity, temperature, skin friction, and the rate of heat transfer are presented graphically and discussed quantitatively for various parameters embedded in the problem. An excellent agreement was found during the numerical computations between the steady-state approximate solutions and unsteady numerical solutions at steady-state time. In addition, comparison with previously published work is performed and the results agree well.