MHD Mixed Convection Flow and Heat Transfer due to an Inclined Stretching/Shrinking Sheet

Abstract

This study focuses on the numerical analysis of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) mixed convection flow of a viscous fluid over an inclined stretching sheet. The sheet’s temperature and stretching velocity are assumed to follow a power law distribution. To simplify the governing partial differential equations (PDEs), we apply similarity transformations, which transform them into ordinary differential equations (ODEs). We employ the bvp4c solver in Matlab for numerical computations. Specifically, when the buoyancy force is present and the parameter n is related to m as n = 2m − 1, we obtain similarity solutions. For a particular variant of the shrinking strength, non-unique solutions are found. It is evident from the temporal stability analysis that only one of them remains stable throughout time. The study investigates the effects of various parameters, such as velocity and temperature exponents, magnetic field strength, inclination angle, and buoyancy, on the flow and heat transfer properties, which are illustrated through graphical representations. Notable findings include that the local Nusselt numbers and skin friction coefficients decrease when the inclination angle of the stretching sheet increases, while they increase when the inclination angle of the shrinking sheet increases.