Continental J.

Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Wilolud Journals, 2016
Printed in Nigeria

ISSN: 2141 4068

http://www.wiloludjournal.com
doi:10.5707/cjengsci.2016.11.1.1.13

RESEARCH ARTICLE
TRANSIENT HYDROMAGNETIC NATURAL CONVECTION FLOW OF REACTIVE
VISCOUS FLUID WITH VARIABLE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY IN A VERTICAL
CHANNEL
M.M. Hamza1 and I.G. Usman2
1
Department of Mathematics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, PMB 2346, Sokoto, Nigeria
2Department of Mathematics, Zamfara State College of Education, PMB 1002, Maru, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
In this paper the analysis of reactive electrically conducting fluid flowing
unsteadily through a channel formed by two infinite parallel plates, under the
influence of a transversely imposed magnetic field with variable thermal
conductivity is presented both (for the linear and nonlinear equations )
analytically and numerically. The solutions for unsteady state temperature and
velocity fields are obtained using unconditionally and convergent semi-implicit
finite difference schemes. Also, to confirm the accuracy of the numerical
solution, steady state solutions for velocity field and temperature field are
obtained using regular perturbation series method. Results of the computations
for velocity, temperature, and skin friction as well as Nusselt number are
graphically displayed for various controlling parameters embedded in the
problem.
Keywords: transient, natural convection, reactive fluid, hydromagnetic, variable
thermal conductivity, vertical channel
Received for Publication: 15/11/15
Accepted for Publication: 05/02/16
Corresponding Author: hmbtamb@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION
Thermal properties, particularly thermal conductivity and diffusivity are essential materials
parameters of bedrock controlling the heat transfer and temperature increases in the vicinity of
repository. To accurately predict the flow and heat transfer rates, it is necessary to take into account
the variation of thermal conductivity and viscosity (Elbarbary and Elgazery, 2004). Most of the
practical situations demand for physical properties with variable characteristics. The materials
properties such as viscosity and thermal conductivity are prone to vary with a temperature gradient
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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

(Arunachalam and Rajappa, 1978). There has been considerable published work dealing with
steady flow with variable thermal conductivity. Arunachalam and Rajappa (1978) determined
forced convection in liquid metal with variable thermal conductivity and capacity in potential flow
and derived explicit closed form of analytical solution. Chiam (1996, 1998) reported the effect of
variable thermal conductivity on heat transfer assuming it to vary linearly with the temperature.
Also mention may be made some of the recent works with variable thermal conductivity of (Subhas
et al. (2009a), Subhas et al. (2009b) and Elbarbary and Elgazery (2004)).
The research on unsteady natural convection problems has been continuously attracting the
attention of many researchers due to it is wider physical applications in nuclear reactors, solid
matrix heat exchangers, thermal insulation, oil recovery, surface catalysis of chemical reactions,
dispersion of chemical contaminants in various processes, storage of nuclear waste materials and
many others. Details on the applications of unsteady natural convection flow can be found in (Jha
et al. 2011a). Recently Jha et al (2011a, 2011b, 2012 and 2013) reported an excellent works on
unsteady flow of reactive fluid in a vertical channel as well as vertical tube. In all, the abovementioned authors neglected the effect of reactive hydromagnetic fluid. Hydromagnetic reactive
flows found applications in thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication of rotating thrust bearing (Das
(1998) and Salem et al. (1980)). In this direction, Makinde and Beg (2010) presented the inherent
irreversibility and thermal stability in a reactive electrically conducting fluid flowing steadily
through a channel with isothermal walls. In another article Makinde and Chinyoka (2011)
investigated numerically unsteady hydromagnetic generalizes Couette flow of a reactive thirdgrade fluid with asymmetric convective cooling. Recently Uwanta and Hamza (2014a) analyzed
unsteady flow of reactive viscous, heat generating/absorbing fluid with Soret and variable thermal
conductivity in a vertical channel formed by two infinite parallel plates. Uwanta and Hamza
(2014b) studied unsteady natural convection flow of reactive hydromagnetic fluid in a moving
vertical channel.
The present work is committed to examine unsteady as well as steady natural convection flow of
reactive hydromagnetic fluid with temperature dependent thermal conductivity in a channel
formed by two infinite vertical parallel plates.
Governing Equations
We consider unsteady natural convection flow of reactive fluid, incompressible and electrically
conducting under the influence of a transversely magnetic field of strength B 0 , having temperature
dependent thermal conductivity in vertical channel formed by two infinite vertical parallel plates
separated by a distance H as shown in figure 1. Initially, when t ' 0 , the wall at y ' = 0, y ' = H
and the ambient fluid are at the same temperatureT 0 . At time t ' > 0 , the temperature of the wall

y ' = 0 is instantaneously raised to T and that of y ' = H is lowered to T 0 and thereafter

maintained as it is, whereT > T 0 . We choose a Cartesian coordinate system with the x ' -axis along

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

the plate in the vertically upward direction and the y ' -axis is taken normal to the plate. All the
fluid properties except density in the buoyancy term are considered as constant. Neglecting the
reactant consumption (Makinde and Beg, 2010), using the Boussinesqs approximation, we write
the governing equations for the present physical problem in dimensional form as

Reactive
Fig.1. Geometry of the problem
g
Hydromagnetic
Fig.1. Geometry of the problem
Fluid
2
2
B0u '
u '
u'
=
+ g (T ' T 0 )
2
t '
y '

T '
1
T ' QC 0 A
E
=
K f (T )
+
exp

t ' C p y '
y ' C p
RT '

(1)
(2)

The initial and boundary conditions for the present problem are
t 0 : u ' = 0, T ' = T 0 for 0 y ' H

t > 0 : u ' = 0, T ' = T ' , at y ' = 0

u ' = 0, T ' = T 0 , at y ' = H

(3)

Where is the conductivity of the fluid, is the kinematic viscosity, B 0 is the electromagnetic
induction, is the coefficient of volume expansion, Q is the heat of reaction, A is the rate constant,
E is the activation energy, R is the universal gas constant, C 0 is the initial concentration of the
reactant species, g is the gravitational force, C p is the specific heat at constant pressure, is the
density of the fluid, T ' is the dimensionless temperature of the fluid, T is the temperature of the
fluid at the plate , T 0' is the temperature of the fluid far away from the plate and K f is the thermal
conductivity which is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature in the form (Subhas et
al. 2009a and Subhas et al. 2009b), K f (T ) = K 0 1 + m * T 'T 0' , where K 0 is the thermal

)}

conductivity of the ambient fluid and m is a constant depending on the nature of the fluid. In

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

general, m * > 0 for fluids such as water and air, while m * < 0 for fluids such as lubrication oils
(Elbarbary and Elgazery, 2004).
In order to solve the equations (1) to (3), we employ the following non-dimensional quantities and
parameters
C p

g RT 02 H 2
B 02 H 2
y'
t '
u'
y = , t = 2 , u = , Pr =
,Gr =
,M =

H
H
k
E 0

(4)

2
*
2
E
E (T 'T 0 )
QC 0 AEH
m RT 0
E (T T 0 )
RT 0
=
, =
exp
,T =
, =
, =
RT 02
RT 02
E
RT 02
E
RT 0
Using (4), the equations (1) to (3) can take the following form:
u 2u
=
+ Gr Mu
t y 2
(1 + ) 2

=
+ + exp

2
t
Pr y
Pr y Pr
1 +

(5)

(6)

With the initial and boundary conditions in dimensionless form are

u = 0, = 0, 0 y 1

t > 0 : u = 0, = T at y = 0
u = 0, = 0, as
y = 1

(7)

Analytical solutions
The governing equations (6) displayed in the previous section are highly nonlinear and exhibit no
analytical solutions. The analytical solutions have played an important role in validating and
exploring computer routines of complicated problems. Therefore we reduce the governing
equations of this problem into a form that can be solved analytically by setting u t = 0 and
t = 0 to obtain the steady state version of the problem. Since at steady state no parameter as
any significant effect, the steady state solutions of (5) and (6) with the help of (7), using

j =0

j =0

perturbation series method of this form u = u j j and = j j for velocity and temperature
respectively by taking T = 1 can be written as

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Gr Gr

u = A cosh( M y ) + B sinh( M y ) +
M M

+ C cosh( M y ) + D sinh( M y ) + H1 y 4 + H 2 y 3 + H 3 y 2 + H 4 y + H 5

(8)

+ 2 E1 cosh( M y ) + E 2 sinh( M y ) + L1y 7 + L2 y 6 + L3 y 5 + L4 y 4 + L5 y 3 + L6 y 2 + L7 y + L8

= (1 y ) + k1y +

(a 2) y 2 + (1 2a) y 3 + a y 4 2 k y + k 1 y 4 + (a 2) y 5 (12a) y 6 +
2

12

12

40

180

a 7
y
504

(9)
Using (8) and (9), we write the steady state skin friction and Nusselt number on the lower boundary
as
u
Gr

2
(10)
= B M
+ D M + H 4 + E 2 M + L7
y y = 0
M

= 1 + k 1 + 2 k 2

(11)

y =0

Where
a =
A =

1
,
2

k1 =

(a 2 ) (1 2a ) a
2

H4 =

Grk 1 + 6H 2
M

12

k 1 ( a 2 ) (1 2a ) a
+
+
12 40
180
504

) , H = aGr , H = Gr (1 2a) ,
12M
6M
M )
H cosh ( M ) ( H + H + H + H + H
,B =

sinh ( M )
sinh ( M )

Gr cosh
Gr
, B =
M sinh
M

(
(

k2 =

Gr (1 2a )
42L1 Gr ( a 2 )
aGr

, L2 =
, L3 =
,
180M
M
40M
504M
20L 3
12L 4
Grk 2 + 6L5
2L
L5 =
, L6 =
,
L7 =
,
L8 = 6 ,
M
M
M
M
L1 =

E2 =

L5 cosh

sinh

M
M

) (L + L
1

H3 =

),

L4 =

Gr (a 2) 12H 1
+
2M
M

H5 =

2H 3
, C = H 5
M

30L 2 Grk 1

M
12M

E1 = L8 ,

+ L 3 + L 4 + L 5 + L 6 + L 7 + L8 )

sinh

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Numerical Solutions
The coupled nonlinear unsteady partial differential equations (5) and (6) are solved numerically
using a semi-implicit finite difference scheme given by (Makinde and Chinyoka, 2011). We used
forward difference formulas for all time derivatives and approximate both the second and first
spatial derivatives with second order central differences. The semi-implicit finite difference
equation corresponding to equations (5) and (6) are as follows
( N +1)
( N +1)
ru
+ (1 + 2 r1 )u (j N +1) ru
= r2u (j N1) + (1 2r2 tM )u (j N ) + r2u (j N+1) + tGr jN
1 j 1
1 j +1

( N +1)
1 j 1

+ (Pr + 2r1 )

( N +1)
j

( N +1)
1 j +1

= (r2 + r3 )

(N )
j 1

+ (Pr 2r2 2r3 )

r4 j( N+1) j( N1)

(N )
j

+ (r2 + r3 )

(N )
j +1

(12)

j( N )
+ t exp
1 + ( N )
j

(13)

0 1 . We
chose = 1 , the detailed reasons to this particular selection is documented in [14]. Also the
analytical solutions displayed in the previous section are used as a check on the accuracy and
effectiveness of the numerical scheme. Again, in order to reconfirm the accuracy of the scheme,
the numerical results for velocity and temperature are compared with the analytical solutions. At
larger time a steady state condition is reached as can be seen in figure (2), an excellent agreement
is reached between these results.
where r1 = t y 2 , r2 = (1 ) t y 2 , r3 = t jN y 2 , r4 = t 4y 2 and

Fig. 2. Unsteady and steady state solutions for velocity and temperature profiles

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The numerical investigations were carried out for positive values of the buoyancy parameter
Gr > 0 (which corresponds to the cooling problems). The cooling problem is often encountered in
engineering applications such as the cooling of nuclear reactors and cooling of electronic
components. Unless otherwise stated, the values: = 0.1 , Gr = 1 , M = 1 , T = 1, Pr = 0.71,
= 0.1 and = 0.01 are used for the investigation, while others are varied in some instances.
Results obtained are presented graphically for velocity, temperature, skin friction and Nusselt
number for various flow parameters.

Fig.3. Variation of unsteady and steady state temperature for and t

Fig.4. Variation of unsteady and steady state velocity for and t

Figures 3 and 4 shows the effects of Frank-Kamenetskii parameter and dimensionless time on both
the temperature and velocity respectively .These figures disclose that as time increase, the
temperature and velocity increases until a steady state is reached. It is also observed that as
increase, both the temperature and velocity profiles increases. These harmonize with the results
reported by (Jha et al. 2012).

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Fig.5. Variation of unsteady and steady state temperature for and t

Fig.6. Variation of unsteady and steady state velocity for and t

Figures 5 and 6 illustrated the temperature and velocity distributions of fluid for different values
of the variable thermal conductivity and non-dimensional time. It is noted that both the temperature
and velocity increases with increasing non-dimensional time until a steady state is reached. It is
also observed that both temperature and velocity increases with increasing values of the variable
thermal conductivity parameter.

Fig.7. Variation of unsteady and steady state velocity for Gr and t

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Fig.8. Variation of unsteady and steady state velocity for M and t

Figures 7 and 8 show the velocity profiles of the fluid for different values of the buoyancy and
magnetic parameters as well as the non-dimensional time respectively. In figure 7 it is found that
the velocity increases with increasing dimensionless time but reverse effect is observed in figure
8. Also in figure 7 it is seen that increasing value of Gr imply an increase in the buoyancy forces
relative to the viscous forces and this reflected in the progressive increase in the vertical velocity
of the flow. In figure 8 it is observed that increasing magnetic parameter decreases the velocity
throughout of the flow region bounded by the channel walls. The physics behind this happening is
that the presence of transversely applied magnetic field produces a hold back force (Lorentz force)
similar to the drag force, which shrink the velocity.

Fig.9. Variation of unsteady and steady state temperature for Pr and t

Figure 9 displayed the effect of the Prandtl number on temperature and dimensionless time. The
Prandtl number was chosen Pr = 0.71, 1 and 7 which corresponds to air, electrolyte solution and
water respectively. It is observed that as the time increase and the Prandtl number increase the
temperature of the fluid decreases.

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Fig.10. Variation of unsteady and steady state skin friction at y = 0 against

Fig.11. Variation of unsteady and steady state Nusselt number at y = 0 against

Figures 10 and 11 illustrated the skin friction and Nusselt number for the different values of
and dimensionless time. In figure 10 and 11 it is seen that as the time increases, the skin friction
and Nusselt number increases until a steady state condition is reached. Also from these figures it
is observed that as increases both skin friction and Nusselt number increases.

Fig.12. Variation of unsteady and steady state skin friction at y = 0 against

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Fig.13. Variation of unsteady and steady state Nusselt number at y = 0 against

Figures 12 and 13 displayed the skin friction and Nusselt number for different values of nondimensional time and the variable thermal conductivity parameter. From these figures it is noted
that both skin friction and Nusselt number increases by increasing the non-dimensional time until
a steady state is attained. It is also observed from figure 12 that increases in the variable thermal
conductivity parameter have no significant effect on the skin friction. From figure 13 it is seen that
increases in the variable thermal conductivity leads to the increase in the Nusselt number.

Fig.14. Variation of unsteady and steady state skin friction at y = 0 against Gr

Fig.15. Variation of unsteady and steady state skin friction at y = 0 against M

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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

Figure 14 and 15 represent the skin friction for different values of buoyancy, magnetic parameter
and dimensionless time. From these figure it is observed that the skin friction increases by
increasing the non-dimensional time until a steady state is attained. In figure 14 it is also seen that
the skin friction increases by increasing the buoyancy parameter. From figure 15 higher values of
magnetic parameter tend to reduce the skin friction
CONCLUSION
This paper studied the problem of unsteady natural convection flow of a reactive hydromagnetic
fluid with variable thermal conductivity. The temperature and velocity field for steady state version
of the problem are obtained analytically using perturbation series method. The complete forms of
the problem are solved numerically using unconditionally and convergent semi-implicit finite
difference scheme. It is observed that both temperature and velocity distributions increases with
increasing non-dimensional time until a steady state is reached. It is also further noticed that as the
reaction strength and temperature dependent thermal conductivity increases, the velocity and
temperature increases as well. Higher values of magnetic parameter retard the motion of the fluid,
while greater values of buoyancy parameter accelerate the motion of the fluid.
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Hamza and Usman: Continental J. Engineering Sciences 11 (1): 1 - 13, 2016

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