Unsteady Free Convective Flow of a Viscous Incompressible Fluid Past an Exponentially Accelerated Porous Plate with Heat Source

Abstract

The problem deals with an unsteady magneto-hydrodynamic natural convective flow of an
incompressible viscous radiative fluid past an exponentially accelerated porous plate
surrounded by a porous medium with suction or injection and heat source. The novelty of the
study is to analyze the impact of different pertinent parameters on the flow due to the presence
of heat source in the energy equation. The existence of suction/injection, radiation and heat
source in the flow enhances the utility of the research as they are essential in nuclear reactors,
thermal and engineering processes etc. The exact solution of the flow equations are obtained
using the Laplace transform technique through Bromwich contour. The nature of the flow
velocity and temperature profiles due to the impact of pertinent flow parameters are presented
graphically. The coefficient of skin friction and rate of heat transfer expressions are obtained
analytically, and numerical results through MATLAB are presented in tabular form for various
parametric values. It is observed that the insertion of a heat source parameter in the energy
equation enhances the velocity of the fluid. The accelerating parameter increases the skin
friction coefficient. Nusselt number increases due to fluid suction, whereas fluid injection tends
to diminish it. Heat source enhances temperature profiles.