Effect of electric field on dispersion of a solute in an MHD flow through a vertical channel with and without chemical reaction

Abstract

The longitudinal dispersion of a solute between two parallel plates filled with two immiscible electrically conducting fluids is analyzed using Taylor's model. The fluids in both the regions are incompressible and the transport properties are assumed to be constant. The channel walls are assumed to be electrically insulating. Separate solutions are matched at the interface using suitable matching conditions. The flow is accompanied by an irreversible first-order chemical reaction. The effects of the viscosity ratio, pressure gradient and Hartman number on the effective Taylor dispersion coefficient and volumetric flow rate for an open and short circuit are drawn in the absence and in the presence of chemical reactions. As the Hartman number increases the effective Taylor diffusion coefficient decreases for both open and short circuits. When the magnetic field remains constant, the numerical results show that for homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions, the effective Taylor diffusion coefficient decreases with an increase in the reaction rate constant for both open and short circuits. © 2016 J.C. Umavathi et al.