Magnetoconvection in a vertical channel with heat source or sink

Abstract

The problem of steady, laminar mixed convective flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting fluid through a vertical channel with heat source or sink is analyzed. The effects of viscous and Ohmic dissipations are included in the energy equation. Both walls are kept either at the same or different temperatures such as isothermal-isothermal, isoflux-isothermal and isothermal-isoflux conditions. Analytical solutions are found using regular perturbation technique and numerical solutions are found using finite difference method. A selected set of graphical results illustrating the effects of various parameters involved in the problem on the flow as well as flow reversal situation and Nusselt numbers are presented and discussed. It is also found that both the analytical and numerical solutions agree very well for small values of the perturbation parameter. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.