https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2014-14044-0
Regular Article
Unsteady MHD convection heat transfer along an accelerating/decelerating cylinder with variable fluid properties
1
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China
2
School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China
* e-mail: liancunzheng@ustb.edu.cn
Received:
19
December
2013
Revised:
24
January
2014
Accepted:
26
January
2014
Published online:
17
March
2014
In this work we endeavor to obtain the analytical solutions for the unsteady MHD mixed convection of an electrically conducting viscous fluid over a vertical accelerating/decelerating cylinder. Unlike typical studies, the temperature-dependent fluid properties, variable fluid viscosity and the thermal conductivity are studied in highly coupled velocity and temperature fields. The locally similar and nonlinear coupled parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) with exponential growth/decay boundary condition are solved by homotopy analysis method (HAM). The analytical results are compared with numerical solutions in an excellent agreement. The combined effects of pertinent physical parameters, such as the unsteadiness parameter, the temperature-dependent viscosity parameter, the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity parameter, the magnetic parameter and the mixed convection parameter on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed and discussed.
© Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014
