DARCY-FORCHHEIMER FLOW OF A CONDUCTING MICROPOLAR FLUID AT A STRETCHING SHEET WITH CONVECTIVE BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

Abstract

In this paper we study the Darcy-Forchheimer flow of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) micropolar fluid over a stretching surface with convective boundary conditions. The effects of viscous dissipation, thermal radiation, activation energy, and chemical reaction, along with Dufour and Soret effects, are considered and analyzed. By using a suitable similarity transformation, the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are converted into a system of nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The non-linear ODEs are solved numerically by a shooting technique with the bvp5c MATLAB package. The effects of the physical parameters on the velocity, the micro-rotation, the temperature, and the concentration fields are analyzed through graphs and tables. The present results are validated with the results in the existing literature for some special cases. It is observed that an increase in the magnetic strength leads to a decrease in the velocity field. However, the thermal radiation parameter and the Eckert number significantly boost the temperature distribution. The concentration field is improved by the activation energy parameter. We believe that this investigation has a definite bearing to industries such as heat exchangers and lubricant refining process.