Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

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Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cnsns

Effect of variable viscosity on MHD non-Darcy mixed convective heat

transfer over a stretching sheet embedded in a porous medium with
non-uniform heat source/sink
Dulal Pal a,*, Hiranmoy Mondal b
a
b

Department of Mathematics, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal 731235, India

Department of Mathematics, Bengal Institute of Technology and Management, Santiniketan, West Bengal 731236, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 25 June 2009
Accepted 4 July 2009
Available online 10 July 2009
PACS:
44.20+b
44.30.+v
44.25.+f
47.15.Cb
83.60.Np
87.10.Ed
Keywords:
Magnetohydrodynamics
Heat transfer
Stretching surface
Ohmic dissipation
Porous medium

a b s t r a c t
An analysis has been presented to investigate the effect of temperature-dependent viscosity on non-Darcy MHD mixed convective heat transfer past a porous medium by taking into
account of Ohmic dissipation and non-uniform heat source/sink. Thermal boundary layer
equation takes into account of viscous dissipation and Ohmic dissipation due to transverse
magnetic eld and electric eld. The governing fundamental equations are rst transformed into system of ordinary differential equations using self-similarity transformation
and are solved numerically by using the fth-order RungeKuttaFehlberg method with
shooting technique for various values of the physical parameters. The effects of variable
viscosity, porosity, Eckert number, Prandtl number, magnetic eld, electric eld and
non-uniform heat source/sink parameters on velocity and temperature proles are analyzed and discussed. Favorable comparisons with previously published work on various
special cases of the problem are obtained. Numerical results on the development of the
local skin-friction co-efcient and local Nusselt number with non-uniform heat source/sink
are tabulated for various physical parameters to show the interesting aspects of the
solution.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Recently, studies on the boundary layer ow and heat transfer due to a stretching surface have become more and more
important in number of engineering applications that includes both metal and polymer sheets. For instance, it occurs in the
extrusion of a polymer sheet from a die or in the drawing of plastic lms, which are then cooled in a cooling bath and during
cooling reduction of both thickness and width takes place. The quality of the nal product depends on the rate of heat transfer at the stretching surface. Crane [1] gave an exact similarity solution in closed analytical form for steady boundary layer
ow of an incompressible viscous uid caused due to stretching of an elastic sheet which moves in its own plane with a
velocity varying linearly with distance from a xed point. Ishak et al. [2] studied mixed convection boundary layers in
the stagnation-point ow of an incompressible viscous uid over a stretching vertical sheet.
In certain porous media applications such as those involving heat removal from nuclear fuel debris, underground disposal
of radiative waste material, storage of food stuffs, the study of heat transfer is of much importance. Comprehensive reviews
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +91 3463 261029.
E-mail addresses: dulalp123@rediffmail.com (D. Pal), hiranmoymondal@yahoo.co.in (H. Mondal).
1007-5704/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cnsns.2009.07.002

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D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

Nomenclature
a, b
A0
Cb
Cf
Cp
f
g
A ; B
q000
Ec
F
Ha
!
J
E1
F
Cf
Rex
k1
Pr
Nux
x; y
u; v
!
E
!
B0
Cp
T
Tw
T1

constant
parameters of temperature distribution on the stretching surface
quadratic drag co-efcient
skin friction
specic heat at constant pressure
dimensionless velocity variable
acceleration due to gravity
co-efcients of space and temperature-dependent heat source/sink
non-uniform heat source/sink
Eckert number
emperical constant (Forchheimer number)
Hartmann number
Joule current
local electromagnetic parameter
local inertia co-efcient
local skin-friction co-efcient
local Reynolds number
porous parameter
Prandtl number
Nusselt number
horizontal distance and vertical distance
velocity component in the x-direction and y-direction
uniform electric eld
uniform transverse magnetic elds
Specic heat at constant pressure
temperature variable
stands for stretching sheet temperature
temperature far away from the stretching sheet

Greek symbols
h
non-dimensional temperature parameter
co-efcient of thermal expansion
bT
g
similarity variable
w
stream function
m
kinematic viscosity
q1
density of the uid

porosity of the porous medium
constant
hr
r
electrical conductivity
j
permeability of the porous medium
k
buoyancy or mixed convection parameter

of the convection through porous media have been reported by Nield and Bejan [3] and by Ingham and Pop [4]. Considering
the effect of temperature difference between the surface and ambient uid some research work have been carried out by
Vajravelu and Rollins [5] and Vajravelu and Nayfeh [6] on ow and heat transfer considering temperature-dependent heat
source/sink. Ali [7] analyzed the effect of lateral mass ux on the natural convection boundary layer induced by a heated
vertical plate embedded in a saturated porous medium with an exponential decaying heat generation.
The use of magnetic eld that inuences heat generation/absorption process in electrically conducting uid ows has
important engineering applications. This interest stems from the fact that hydromagnetic ows and heat transfer have been
applied in many industries. For example, in many metallurgical processes such as drawing of continuous laments through
quiescent uids, and annealing and tinning of copper wires, the properties of the end product depend greatly on the rate of
cooling involved in these processes. Numerous attempts have been made to analysis the effect of transverse magnetic eld
on boundary layer ow characteristics (Andresson [8], Char [9] and Lawrence and Rao [10]). Pavlor [11] gave an exact similarity solution to the MHD boundary layer equations for the steady two-dimensional ow caused solely by the stretching of
a plane elastic surface in the presence of a uniform magnetic eld. Vajravelu and Rollins [12] studied heat transfer in an electrically conducting uid over a stretching surface taking into account the magnetic eld only. However, all these works have
neglected electric eld which is also one of the important parameters to alter the momentum and heat transfer characteristic
in Newtonian boundary layer ow. Recently, Abel et al. [13] studied viscoelastic MHD ow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet with viscous with Ohmic dissipations.

D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

1555

Most of the existing analytical studies for this problem are based on the constant physical properties of the ambient uid.
However, it is known that these properties may change with temperature, especially for uid viscosity. To accurately predict
the ow and heat transfer rates, it is necessary to take into account this variation of viscosity. Seddeek [14] analyzed nonDarcian effect on forced convection heat transfer over a at plate in a porous medium with temperature-dependent viscosity.
Salem [15] studied the problem of ow and heat transfer of electrically conducting viscoelastic uid having temperaturedependent viscosity as well as thermal conductivity uid over a continuously stretching sheet in the presence of a uniform
magnetic eld for the case of power-law variation in the sheet temperature.
It is worth mentioning that non-Darcian forced ow boundary layers from a very important group of ows, the solution of
which is of great importance in many practical applications such as in biomechanical problems, in ltration transpiration
cooling and geothermal. Singh and Tewani [16] studied the effect of thermal stratication on non-Darcian free convection
ow by using the Ergun model [17] to include the inertia effect. It is well known that there exists non-Darcian ow phenomena bodies inertia effect and solid-boundary viscous resistance. These non-Darcian effects include non-uniform porosity distribution and thermal dispersion. Tien and Hunt [18] analyzed these non-Darcian effects applicable for a boundary layer ow
in porous beds.
The study of heat source/sink effects on heat transfer is very important in view of several physical problems. Aforementioned studies include only the effect of uniform heat source/sink (i.e. temperature-dependent heat source/sink) on heat
transfer. Abo-Eldahab and El-Aziz [19] have included the effect of non-uniform heat source with suction/blowing, but conned to the case of viscous uid only. Abel et al. [20] investigated on non-Newtonian boundary layer ow past a stretching
sheet taking into account of non-uniform heat source and frictional heating. Abel and Mahesha [21] studied the magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer ow and heat transfer characteristic of a non-Newtonian viscoelastic uid over a at sheet
with variable thermal conductivity in the presence of thermal radiation and non-uniform heat source. They have reported
that the combined effect of variable thermal conductivity, radiation and non-uniform heat source have signicant impact
in controlling the rate of heat transfer in the boundary layer region.
The previous studies are based on the constant physical parameters of the uid. For most realistic uids, the viscosity
shows a rather pronounced variation with temperature. It is known that the uid viscosity changes with temperature
[22]. Thus it is necessary to take into account the variation of viscosity with temperature in order to accurately predict
the heat transfer rates. Ali [23] investigated the effect of variable viscosity on mixed convection heat transfer along a moving
surface. Lai and Kulacki [24] analyzed the effects of variable viscosity on convective heat transfer along a vertical surface in a
saturated porous medium. Pantokratoras [25,26] studied laminar free-convection over a vertical isothermal plate with uniform blowing or suction in water with variable physical properties. Later, Kafoussian and Williams [27] investigated on free
forced convective boundary layer ow past a vertical isothermal at plate considering temperature-dependent viscosity of
the uid. Recently, Pantokratoras [28] made a theoretical study to investigate the effect of variable viscosity on the classical
FalknerSkan ow with constant wall temperature and obtained results for wall shear stress and the wall heat transfer for
various values of ambient Prandtl numbers varying from 1 to 10,000.
In view of the above discussions, authors envisage to investigate the effect of variable viscosity on MHD non-Darcy ow
and heat transfer over a continuous stretching sheet with electric eld in presence of Ohmic dissipation and non-uniform
heat source/sink of heat. The ow is subjected to a transverse magnetic eld normal to the plate. The Forchheimers extension is used to describe the uid ow in the porous medium. Highly non-linear momentum and heat transfer equations are
solved numerically using fth-order RungeKuttaFehlberg method with shooting technique (Na, [29]). The effects of various parameters on the velocity and temperature proles as well as on local skin-friction co-efcient and local Nusselt number are presented in graphical and in tabular form. It is hoped that the results obtained from the present investigation will
provide useful information for application and also serve as a complement to the previous studies.
2. Mathematical formulations
2.1. Flow analysis
Consider two-dimensional study of incompressible electrically conducting uid ow over a continuous stretching sheet
embedded in a porous medium. The uid properties are assumed to be isotropic and constant, except for the uid viscosity l
which is assumed to vary as be an inverse linear function of temperature T, in the form (see Lai and Kulacki [24])

l
where

l1

1 cT  T 1 

l1 is the ambient uid dynamic viscosity. Eq. (1) can be written as follows
1

aT  T r

where

c
1
and T r T 1 
l1
c

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D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

Both a and T r are constant and their values depend on the reference state and the thermal property of the uid, i.e. c. In general, a > 0 for liquids and a < 0 for gases. Consider the uniform ow of velocity U 1 and temperature T 1 through a highly
porous medium bounded by a semi-innite at plate parallel to the ow. Also, hr is a constant which is dened by

hr

Tr  T1
1

Tw  T1
cT w  T 1

and primes denote differentiation with respect to g. It is worth mentioning here that for c ! 0 i.e. l l1 (constant) then
hr ! 1. It is also important to note that hr is negative for liquids and positive for gases. The ow model is based on the following assumption that the ow is steady, incompressible, laminar and the uid viscosity which is assumed to be an inverse
linear function of temperature.
!
The ow region is exposed under uniform transverse magnetic elds B0 0; B0 ; 0 and uniform electric eld
!
E 0; 0; E0 (see Fig. 1). Since such imposition of electric and magnetic elds stabilizes the boundary layer ow (Dandapat
and Mukhopadhyay [30]). It is assumed that the ow is generated by stretching of an elastic boundary sheet from a slit by
imposing two equal and opposite forces in such a way that velocity of the boundary sheet is of linear order of the ow direc!
!
tion. We know from Maxwells equation that r: B 0 and r  E 0. When magnetic eld is not so strong then electric
! ! !
!
!
eld and magnetic eld obey Ohms law J r E q  B , where J is the Joule current. The viscous dissipation and velocity of the uid far away from the plate are assumed to be negligible.
We assumed that magnetic Reynolds number of the uid is small so that induced magnetic eld and Hall effect may be
neglected. We take into account of magnetic eld effect as well as electric eld in the momentum equation. Under the above
stated physical situation, the governing boundary layer equations for momentum and energy for mixed convection under
Boussinesqs approximation are

@u @ v

0
@x @y




 
1
@u
@u
1 @
@u
r
m
C
2
pb u2 gbT T  T 1

u
v
l
E
B

B
u


u

0
0
0
@y
q1  @y @y
q1
k
2 @x
k

5
6

where u and v are the velocity components in the x and y directions, respectively; m is the kinematic viscosity; g is the acceleration due to gravity; q1 is the density of the uid; bT is the co-efcient of thermal expansion; T, T w and T 1 are the temperature of the uid inside the thermal boundary layer, the plate temperature and the uid temperature in the free stream,
respectively; k is the permeability of the porous medium;  is the porosity of the porous medium; C b is the form of drag coefcient which is independent of viscosity and other physical properties of the uid but is dependent on the geometry of the
medium. The third and fourth terms on the right hand side of Eq. (6) stand for the rst-order (Darcy) resistance and secondorder porous inertia resistance, respectively. It is assumed that the normal stress is of the same order of magnitude as that of
the shear stress in addition to usual boundary layer approximations for deriving the momentum boundary layer Eq. (6). The
following appropriate boundary conditions on velocity are appropriate in order to employ the effect of stretching of the
boundary surface causing ow in x-direction as

u U w x bx;

v0

at y 0

u 0 as y ! 1

To solve the governing boundary layer Eq. (6), the following similarity transformations are introduced:
0

u bxf g;

p
 bm1 f g;

s
b
y
g

m1

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the problem under consideration.

D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

1557

Here f g is the dimensionless stream function and g is the similarity variable. Substitution of Eq. (8) in the Eq. (6) results in a
third-order non-linear ordinary differential equation of the following form.

f 000



 000



 02
h ff
1 h0 f 00
h
h
f
1

1
F  f 02  kh k1 f 0
Ha2 E1  f 0 1 
2
2
hr 
hr  h 
hr
hr


where k1 mkb1

q
is the porous parameter, Ha qrbB0 is Hartmann number, E1 BE0 0bx is the local electric parameter, F  pC bk x is

the local inertia co-efcient, k gbT Tbw2 xT 1 is the buoyancy or mixed convection parameter.
In view of the transformations, the boundary conditions (7) take the following non-dimensional form on stream function f
as

f 0 0;

f 0 0 1;

f 0 1 0

10

The physical quantities of interest are the skin-friction co-efcient C f , which is dened as

Cf

sw
q1 U 2 =2

11

where wall sharing stress

sw

sw is given by

 
@u
l
@y y0

12

Using the non-dimensional variables (8), we get from Eqs. (11) and (12) as

1
hr

C f Re1=2
f 00 0
x
2
hr  h

13

where Rex mUx

is the local Reynolds number.
1
We now consider the heat transfer in the ow using appropriate boundary conditions in the next section.
2.2. Similarity solution of the heat transfer equation
The governing boundary layer heat transfer equation with viscous and Ohmic dissipations, and non-uniform heat source/
sink is given by [20]:

 
@T
@T
j @2T
l @u 2
r
1

uB  E 2
q000
v

@x
@y q1 C p @y2 q1 C p @y
q1 C p 0 0
q1 C p

14

where C p is the specic heat at constant pressure and j is the thermal conductivity. The non-uniform heat source/sink, q000 , is
modeled as

q000

kuw x 
A T w  T 1 f 0 T  T 1 B 
xm 1

15

where A and B are the co-efcient of space and temperature-dependent heat source/sink, respectively. Here we make a
note that the case A > 0; B > 0 corresponds to internal heat generation and that A < 0; B < 0 corresponds to internal heat
absorption.
We consider non-isothermal temperature boundary condition as follows:

x2
l
y!1

T T w T 1 A0
T ! T1

as

at y 0
16

where A0 is the parameters of temperature distribution on the stretching surface, T w stands for stretching sheet temperature
and T 1 is the temperature far away from the stretching sheet.
We introduce a dimensionless temperature variable hg of the form:

T  T1
Tw  T1

17

where expression for T w  T 1 is given by Eq. (16). Making use of the Eq. (17) in Eq. (14) we obtain the non-dimensional thermal boundary layer equation as


 h
i
h
h00  1 
Pr 2f 0 h  f h0  Ha2 Ec E1  f 0 2 Ec Prf 00 2  A f 0 B h
hr

18


1
q1m C
2 2
where Pr 1  hhr
Pr1 is the Prandtl number and Pr1 j1 p is the ambient Prandtl number, and Ec Ab0 cl p is the Eckert
number. Temperature boundary conditions (16) take the following non-dimensional form

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D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

h0 1;

h1 0

19

The local Nusselt number which are dened as

Nux

xqw

20

jT w  T 1

where qw is the heat transfer from the sheet is given by

 
@T
qw j
@y y0

21

Using the non-dimensional variables (17), we get from Eqs. (20) and (21) as

Nux =Re1=2
h0 0
x

22

The set of transformed governing Eqs. (9) and (18) are solved numerically as described in the next section.
3. Numerical solutions
The Eqs. (9) and (18) are highly non-linear ordinary differential equations which are solved numerically by most efcient
fth-order RungeKuttaFehlberg integration scheme with shooting method. The most important factor of this method is to
choose the appropriate nite values of g ! 1. In order to determine g1 for the boundary value problem stated by Eqs. (9)
and (18), we start with some initial guess value for some particular set of physical parameters to obtain f 00 0. The solution
procedure is repeated with another large value of g1 until two successive values of f 00 0 differ only by the specied significant digit. The last value of g1 is nally chosen to be the most appropriate value of the limit g ! 1 for that particular set of
parameters. The value of g may change for another set of physical parameters. Once the nite value of g is determined then
the coupled boundary value problem given by Eqs. (9), (10), (18) and (19) are solved numerically using the method of superposition (Na, [29]). In this method the third-order non-linear Eq. (9) and second-order Eq. (18) have been reduced to ve
simultaneously ordinary differential equations for which only three initial conditions are given. Thus we employ shooting
technique with RungeKuttaFehlberg scheme to determine two more unknowns in order to convert the boundary value
problem to initial value problem. Once all the ve initial conditions are determined then we solve this system of simultaneous equation using fth-order RungeKuttaFehlberg integration scheme. The results are presented for major parameters
including the magnetic eld parameter, the porosity parameter, electric eld parameter, variable viscosity parameter, Prandtl number and buoyancy number. A systematic study on the effect of the various parameters on ow and heat transfer
characteristic is carried out.
4. Results and discussion
Numerical solutions for effects of Non-Darcy mixed convection heat transfer over a stretching sheet in presence of magnetic eld are reported. The results are presented graphically from Figs. 210 and conclusions are drawn that the ow eld
and other quantities of physical interest have signicant effects. Comparisons with previously published works are

Fig. 2. Inuence of the Hartmann number Ha, on the dimensionless velocity prole f 0 g.

D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

1559

Fig. 3. Variation of velocity prole for different values of Electric parameter E1 .

Fig. 4. Variation of velocity prole for different values of porosity

 of the porous medium.

performed and excellent agreement between the results are obtained. Non-linear ordinary differential equations are integrated by RungeKuttaFehlberg method with shooting technique.
Comparison of our results of h0 0 with those obtained by Chen [31], Grubka and Bobba [32] and Ishak et al. [33] (see
Table 1) in absence of buoyancy force and magnetic eld show a very good agreement. The values of skin-friction co-efcient
f 00 0 for different values of Hartmann number Ha, Eckert number Ec , local electric eld E1 and Prandtl number Pr are presented in Table 2. Physically, positive sign of f 00 0 implies that the uid exerts a drag force on the sheet and negative sign
implies the opposite. It is seen from this table that the skin-friction co-efcient f 00 0 decreases with an increase in the electric parameters E1 and Prandtl number Pr in absence of Hartmann number Ha. It is also observed that the skin-friction coefcient increases with increasing the value of Hartmann number Ha and Eckert number Ec .
Table 3 gives the values of wall temperature gradient h00 0 for different values of Hartmann number (Ha), Eckert number Ec , local electric parameter E1 and Prandtl number (Pr). Analysis of the tabular data shows that magnetic eld enhances the rate of heat transfer across the stretching sheet to the uid. However, the effect of Prandtl number (Pr), in
absence of local electric eld parameter E1 , is to reduce the rate of heat transfer from boundary stretching sheet to the uid
whereas in the presence of local electric parameter E1 , the effect of Prandtl number (Pr) is to increase the rate of heat transfer. Thus application of electric eld may change the limitation of heat transfer.

1560

D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

Fig. 5. Variation of temperature prole for different values of Prandtl number Pr.

Fig. 6. Effects of buoyancy or mixed convection parameter k on the velocity prole in the boundary layer.

Fig. 2 shows the effect of Hartmann number (Ha) on velocity proles by keeping other physical parameter xed. Fig. 2
depicts that the effect of Hartmann number is to reduce the velocity distribution in the boundary layer which results in thinning of the boundary layer thickness. The decrease in the velocity prole is due to the fact that the transverse magnetic eld
has a tendency to retard the motion of the uid as Hartmann number increases the Lorentz force.
Fig. 3 is the plot of velocity prole for various values of electric eld parameter E1 . It is clearly observed from this gure
that the effect of electric parameter E1 is to increase velocity throughout the boundary layer but more signicantly far away
from the stretching sheet. Analysis of the graph reveals that the effect of local electric eld parameter E1 is to shift the
streamlines away from the stretching boundary. This shifting of streamlines is seen little away from the stretching sheet.
This is because Lorentz force arising due to electric eld acts as an accelerating force in reducing the frictional resistance.
Fig. 4 is the plot of velocity prole for various values of porosity . It is clearly observed from this gure that the effect of
porosity  on velocity is to increase its value throughout the boundary layer but more signicantly little away from the
stretching sheet. This is due to fact that the obstruction in the motion of the uid reduces as the porosity increases (pore
size increases) hence the velocity increases is the boundary layer.
Fig. 5 represents the graph of temperature prole for different values of Prandtl number Pr. It is seen that the effect of
Prandtl number Pr is to decrease, temperature throughout the boundary layer, which results in decrease of the thermal

D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

1561

Fig. 7. Effect of non-uniform heat source/sink parameter A on temperature proles.

Fig. 8. Effect of temperature-dependent heat source/sink parameter B on temperature proles.

boundary layer thickness with the increase of values of Prandtl number Pr. The increase of Prandtl number means slow rate
of thermal diffusion. Fig. 6 represents the variations of velocity distribution in the boundary layer proles for various values
of mixed convection parameter or buoyancy parameter k. It is observed from this gure that the velocity distribution increases with increasing the buoyancy parameter k, this is due to the fact the boundary layer thickness increases with k.
Fig. 7 depicts the effect of space-dependent heat source/sink parameter A . It is observed that the boundary layer generates the energy, which causes the temperature proles to increase with increasing the values of A > 0 (heat source) where
as in the case of A < 0 (absorbtion) boundary layer absorbs energy resulting in the temperature to fall considerably with
decreasing in the value of A < 0. The effect of temperature-dependent heat source/sink parameter B on heat transfer is
demonstrated in Fig. 8. This graph illustrates that energy is released when B > 0 which causes the temperature to increase,
whereas energy is absorbed by decreasing the values of B < 0 resulting in the temperature to drop signicantly near the
boundary layer.
Figs. 9 and 10 display results for the velocity and temperature distribution, respectively, for different values of uid viscosity parameter, hr . The gures indicate that as hr ! 0, the boundary layer thickness decreases and the velocity distribution becomes shallower whereas the temperature distribution approaches a linear shape. Fig. 10 shows the variation of the
dimensionless temperature parameter hg for various values of hr for both air and liquid. It is seen that for air, the

1562

D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

Fig. 9. Effect of variable viscosity parameter hr on the velocity prole f 0 g.

Fig. 10. Effect of variable viscosity parameter hr on the temperature prole hg.

Table 1
Comparison of local Nusselt number h0 0 for Ha 0; k 0 and various values of Pr with Chen [31], Grubka and Bobba [32] and Ishak et al.[33].
Pr

Chen [31]

Grubka and Bobba [32]

Ishak et al. [33]

h0 0 present result

1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0

1.33334

2.50972

4.79686

1.3333

2.5097

4.7969

1.3333

2.5097

4.7969

1.333333
2.000000
2.509725
2.938785
3.316482
3.657772
3.971512
4.263460
4.537612
4.796873

temperature decreases very rapidly with g and its value decreases with increase in hr whereas in the case of liquid, the temperature decreases very steadily with g. Further it is observed that the decrease in the temperature with hr is not very
remarkable near the boundary in this case. This effect is much noticeable little away from the stretching sheet.

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D. Pal, H. Mondal / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 15531564

Table 2
The skin-friction co-efcient f 00 0 for different values of Hartmann number Ha, Eckert number Ec , local electric parameter E1 and Prandtl number Pr.
Ha

Ec

E1

Pr

f 00 0 k1 0; k 0; F  0

0.0
0.0
1.0
1.0

0.0
1.0
1.0
1.0

0.0
1.0
0.0
1.0

3.0
5.0
3.0
3.0

1.000000
1.000000
1.414214
0.6561953

Table 3
The wall temperature gradient h0 0 for different values of Hartmann number Ha, Eckert number Ec , local electric parameter E1 and Prandtl number Pr with
Abel et al. [13].
Ha

Ec

E1

Pr

h0 0 k1 0; k 0; F  0

0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.0
1.0
1.0

0.0
0.0
0.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0

0.0
0.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.0
1.0
0.0

3.0
5.0
3.0
3.0
5.0
3.0
3.0
5.0

2.509725
3.316482
2.509725
1.745137
2.219414
0.459952
2.288068
0.366367

5. Conclusions
Mathematical analysis has been carried out to study the effect of variable viscosity on MHD non-Darcy boundary layer
ow and heat transfer characteristics in an incompressible electrically conducting uid over a linear stretching sheet in
the presence of Ohmic dissipation and non-uniform heat source/sink. Highly non-linear third-order momentum boundary
layer equation is converted into a ordinary differential equation using similarity transformations. Fifth-order RungeKuttaFehlberg method with shooting is used to solve momentum and heat transfer equations numerically. The effects of various physical parameters like Prandtl number, Hartmann number and local electric eld parameter on velocity and
temperature proles are obtained.
The following main conclusions can be drawn from the present study:
(i) Boundary layer ow attain minimum velocity for higher values of Hartmann number (Ha).
(ii) The effect of the local electric eld is to increase velocity distribution in the boundary layer more signicant little away
from the stretching sheet.
(iii) The effect of increasing the values of Prandtl number (Pr) is to decrease temperature largely near the stretching sheet
and the thermal boundary layer thickness decreases with Prandtl number.
(iv) The effect of porosity parameter is to increase velocity prole throughout the boundary layer.
(v) Buoyancy parameter is to increase the velocity distribution in the momentum boundary layer.
(vi) The effect of non-uniform surface and temperature-dependent heat source/sink parameters is to generate temperature for heat source and absorb temperature for heat sink values. Hence non-uniform heat sink is better for cooling
purposes.

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