Radiation and Mass Transfer Effects on Mhd Natural Convection Flow Over An Inclined Plate | IJMER | ISSN: 2249–6645 | www.ijmer.com | Vol. 4 | Iss. 2 | Feb. 2014 |90| Radiation and Mass Transfer Effects on MHD Natural Convection Flow over an Inclined Plate R.L.V.Renuka Devi 1 , T.Poornima 2 , N. Bhaskar Reddy 3 , S.Venkataramana 4 1,2,3,4 Department of Mathematics, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India I. INTRODUCTION The buoyancy force induced by density differences in a fluid cause’s natural convection. Natural convection flows are frequently encountered in physics and engineering problems such as chemical catalytic reactors, nuclear waste material etc. Transient free convection is important in many practical applications such as thermal regulation process, security of energy systems etc. In literature, extensive research work has been performed to examine the effect of natural convection on flow past a plate. The first attempt in this direction was made by Callahan and Marner [1] who solved the non-linear system of equations by explicit finite difference scheme, which is not always convergent. Soundalgekar and Ganesan [2] studied the same problem by implicit finite difference scheme which is always stable and convergent. Recently, finite difference solution of natural convection flow over a heated plate with different inclination was studied by Begum et al. [3]. Two dimensional natural convection heat and mass transfer flow past a semi-infinite flat plate has been receiving the attention of many researchers because of its wide applications in industry and technological fields. Natural convection along an inclined plate has received less attention than the case of vertical and horizontal plates. Finite-difference technique has been used in natural convective flow analysis by many researchers. Callahan and Marner [4] have presented a paper on transient free convection with mass transfer effects and to solve the problem by explicit finite difference technique. Soundalgekar and Ganesan [5] solved the same problem using implicit finite difference technique and compared the result with those of Marner and Callahan [6] and both the results agree well. Chamkha et al. [7] presented similarity solutions for hydromagnetic simultaneous heat and mass transfer by natural convection from inclined plate with thermal heat generation or absorption employing implicit finite difference technique. Ganesan and Palani [8] studied free convection effects on the flow of water at 4ºC past a semi-infinite inclined flat plate and solved the problem using implicit finite difference technique. Magnetohydrodynamic flows have applications in meteorology, solar physics, cosmic fluid dynamics, astrophysics, geophysics and in the motion of earth’s core. In addition from the technological point of view, MHD free convection flows have significant applications in the field of stellar and planetary magnetospheres, aeronautical plasma flows, chemical engineering and electronics. An excellent summary of applications is to be found in Hughes and Young [9]. Raptis [10] studied mathematically the case of time varying two dimensional natural convective flow of an incompressible, electrically conducting fluid along an infinite vertical porous plate embedded in a porous medium. Helmy [11] studied MHD unsteady free convection flow past a vertical porous plate embedded in a porous medium. Elbashbeshy [12] studied heat and mass transfer along a vertical plate in the presence of magnetic field. In the context of space technology and in the processes involving high temperatures, the effects of radiation are of vital importance. Recent developments in hypersonic flights, missile re-entry, rocket combustion chambers, power plants for inter planetary flight and gas cooled nuclear reactors, have focused attention on thermal radiation as a mode of energy transfer, and emphasized the need for improved understanding of radiative transfer in these processes. Cess [13] presented radiation effects on the boundary layer flow of an absorbing fluid past a vertical plate, by using the Rosseland diffusion model. Several authors have also studied thermal radiating MHD boundary layer flows with applications in astrophysical fluid dynamics. Mosa [14] discussed one of the first models for combined radiative hydromagnetic heat transfer, ABSTRACT: A numerical solution for the unsteady, natural convective flow of heat and mass transfer along an inclined plate is presented. The dimensionless unsteady, coupled, and non-linear partial differential conservation equations for the boundary layer regime are solved by an efficient, accurate and unconditionally stable finite difference scheme of the Crank-Nicolson type. The velocity, temperature, and concentration fields have been studied for the effect of Magnetic parameter, buoyancy ratio parameter, Prandtl number, radiation parameter and Schmidt number. The local skin-friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are also presented and analyzed graphically. Keywords: Unsteady flow, Inclined plate, Finite difference method, Radiation, Mass transfer.