Applied Mathematical Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

Unsteady MHD flow and heat transfer of dusty fluid

between parallel plates with variable physical properties
Hazem A. Attia *,1

Department of Mathematics, College of Science, King Saud University (Al-Qasseem Branch), P.O. Box 237,
Buraidah 81999, Saudi Arabia
Received 1 February 2000; received in revised form 3 January 2002; accepted 1 March 2002

Abstract

This paper studies the unsteady flow and heat transfer of a dusty conducting fluid between two parallel
plates with variable viscosity and electric conductivity. The fluid is driven by a constant pressure gradient
and an external uniform magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the plates. The governing non-linear
partial differential equations are solved numerically using finite differences. The effect of the variation in the
viscosity and electric conductivity of the fluid and the uniform magnetic field on the velocity and tem-
perature fields for both the fluid and dust particles is discussed.
Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

The phenomenon of the flow and heat transfer of dusty fluids in a channel has been analyzed by
a number of authors [1–5] due to its important applications in the fields of fluidization, com-
bustion, use of dust in gas cooling systems, centrifugal separation of matter from fluid, petroleum
industry, purification of crude oil, electrostatic precipitation, polymer technology, and fluid
droplets sprays.
The flow of a dusty and electrically conducting fluid through a channel in the presence of a
transverse magnetic field is encountered in a variety of applications such as magnetohydro-
dynamic (MHD) generators, pumps, accelerators, and flowmeters. In these devices, the solid par-
ticles in form of ash or soot are suspended in the conducting fluid as a result of the corrosion and

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +966-6-3800319; fax: +966-6-3800911.
E-mail address: ah1113@yahoo.com (H.A. Attia).
1
On leave from: Dept. of Math. and Physics, Fac. of Eng., Cairo University (El-Fayoum Branch), Egypt.

0307-904X/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 0 7 - 9 0 4 X ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 9 - 5
864 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

wear activities and/or the combustion processes in MHD generators and plasma MHD acceler-
ators. The consequent effect of the presence of solid particles on the performance of such devices
has led to studies of particulate suspensions in conducting fluids in the presence of externally
applied magnetic field [6–10].
Most of these studies are based on constant physical properties. More accurate prediction
for the flow and heat transfer can be achieved by taking into account the variation of these
properties with temperature [11]. Klemp et al. [12] has studied the effect of temperature depen-
dent viscosity on the entrance flow in a channel in the hydrodynamic case. Attia and Kotb [13]
studied the steady MHD fully developed flow and heat transfer between two parallel plates
with temperature dependent viscosity. Later Attia [14] has extended the problem to the transient
state.
In the present work, the effect of variable viscosity and electric conductivity on the unsteady
flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting, viscous, incompressible dusty fluid are
studied. The fluid is flowing between two electrically insulating infinite plates maintained at two
constant but different temperatures. The fluid is acted upon by a constant pressure gradient and
an external uniform magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the plates. The magnetic Reynolds
number is assumed small so that the induced magnetic field is neglected. The viscosity and electric
conductivity of the fluid are assumed to be temperature dependent. This configuration is a good
approximation of some practical situations such as heat exchangers, flowmeters, and pipes that
connect system components. The flow and temperature distributions of both the fluid and dust
particles are governed by the coupled set of the momentum and energy equations. The Joule and
viscous dissipation terms in the energy equation are taken into consideration. The governing
coupled non-linear partial differential equations are solved numerically using finite differences.
The effect of the external uniform magnetic field and the variations in viscosity and electric
conductivity with temperature on the time development of the velocity and temperature distri-
butions for both the fluid and dust particles is discussed.

2. Description of the problem

The dusty fluid is assumed to be flowing between two infinite horizontal non-conducting plates
located at the y ¼ h planes as shown in Fig. 1. The dust particles are assumed to be spherical in
shape and uniformly distributed throughout the fluid. The two plates are assumed to be electri-
cally non-conducting and kept at two constant temperatures T1 for the lower plate and T2 for the
upper plate with T2 > T1 . A constant pressure gradient is applied in the x-direction and a uniform
magnetic field B0 is applied in the positive y-direction. By assuming a very small magnetic Rey-
nolds number the induced magnetic field is neglected [15]. Assuming that there is excess charge
density, then r  E ¼ 0 where E is the induced electric field. Since the magnetic Reynolds number
is very small, the induced magnetic field and consequently r  E are negligible, which in con-
juction with the result r  E ¼ 0 show that the induced electric field is ignored.
The fluid motion starts from rest at t ¼ 0, and the no-slip condition at the plates implies that the
fluid and dust particles velocities have neither a, z-nor an x-component at y ¼ h. The initial
temperatures of the fluid and dust particles are assumed to be equal to T1 and the fluid viscosity as
well as its electric conductivity are assumed to vary with temperature. Since the plates are infinite
 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875 865

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the system.

in the x- and z-directions, the physical variables are invariant in these directions and the problem
is essentially one-dimensional with velocity component uðy; tÞ along the x axis.
The flow of the fluid is governed by the Navier–Stokes equation [15]
 
ou dp o ou
q ¼ þ l  rB20 u  KN ðu  up Þ ð1Þ
ot dx oy oy
where q is the density of clean fluid, l is the viscosity of clean fluid, u is the velocity of fluid, up is
the velocity of dust particles, r is the electric conductivity, p is the pressure acting on the fluid, N
is the number of dust particles per unit volume, and K is the Stokes constant, K ¼ 6plD, and D is
the average radius of dust particles. The first three terms in the right-hand side are respectively the
pressure gradient, viscosity, and Lorentz force terms. The last term represents the force term due
to the relative motion between fluid and dust particles. It is assumed that the Reynolds number of
the relative velocity is small. In such a case the force between dust and fluid is proportional to the
relative velocity [1].
The motion of the dust particles is governed by Newton’s second law [1]
oup
mp ¼ Kðu  up Þ ð2Þ
ot
where mp is the average mass of dust particles. The initial and boundary conditions on the velocity
fields are respectively given by;
t ¼ 0 : u ¼ up ¼ 0 ð3aÞ
For t > 0, the no-slip condition at the plates implies that
u ¼ up ¼ 0; y ¼ h ð3bÞ

u ¼ up ¼ 0; y¼h ð3cÞ
Heat transfer takes place from the upper hot plate towards the lower cold plate by conduction
through the fluid. Also, there is a heat generation due to both the Joule and viscous dissipations.
866 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

The dust particles gain heat energy from the fluid by conduction through their spherical surface.
Two energy equations are required which describe the temperature distributions for both the fluid
and dust particles and are respectively given by [16]:
 2
oT o2 T ou qp Cs
qc ¼k 2 þl þ rB20 u2 þ ðTp  T Þ ð4Þ
ot oy oy cT

oTp ðTp  T Þ
¼ ð5Þ
ot cT
where T is the temperature of the fluid, Tp is the temperature of the particles, c is the specific heat
capacity of the fluid at constant volume, Cs is the specific heat capacity of the particles, k is the
thermal conductivity of the fluid which is assumed constant, qp is the mass of dust particles per
unit volume of the fluid, cT is the temperature relaxation time ¼ 3Pr cp Cs =2c, cp is the velocity
relaxation time ¼ 2qs D2 =9l0 , qs , is the material density of dust particles ¼ 3qp =4pD3 N, Pr is the
Prandtl number ¼ l0 c=k and l0 is the viscosity of the fluid at T ¼ T1 . The last three terms in right-
hand side of Eq. (4) represent, respectively, the viscous dissipation, the Joule dissipation, and the
heat conduction between the fluid and dust particles. The initial and boundary conditions of the
temperature fields are given as;
t ¼ 0 : T ¼ Tp ¼ 0 ð6aÞ

t > 0 : T ¼ Tp ¼ T1 ; y ¼ h ð6bÞ

t > 0 : T ¼ Tp ¼ T2 ; y¼h ð6cÞ

The viscosity of the fluid is assumed to depend on temperature and is defined as, l ¼ l0 f1 ðT Þ. By
assuming the viscosity to vary exponentially with temperature, the function f1 ðT Þ takes the form
[13,14], f1 ðT Þ ¼ ea1 ðT T1 Þ . The parameter a1 may take positive values for liquids such as water,
benzene or crude oil. In some gases like air, helium or methane a1 may be negative, i.e. the co-
efficient viscosity increases with temperature [7,15,16].
Also the electric conductivity of the fluid is assumed to vary with temperature as r ¼ r0 f2 ðT Þ.
We assume linear dependence for the electric conductivity with temperature in the form, r ¼
r0 ½1 þ b1 ðT  T1 Þ, where the parameter b1 , may be positive for some fluids such as air or water
vapor or negative for others like liquid water or benzene [16,17].
The problem is simplified by writing the equations in the non-dimensional form. The charac-
teristic length is taken to be h, and the characteristic time is qh2 =l0 , while the characteristic ve-
locity is l0 =hq. We define the following non-dimensional quantities,
ð^
x; y^; ^zÞ ¼ ðx; y; zÞ=h; ^t ¼ tl0 =qh2 ; p^ ¼ pqh2 =l20 ;

ð^ ^ Þ ¼ ðu; v; wÞqh=l0 ;
u; v^; w ð^ ^ p Þ ¼ ðup ; vp ; wp Þqh=l0 ;
up ; v^p ; w

d^
p T  T1 Tp  T1
a¼ ; h¼ ; hp ¼ ;
d^
x T2  T1 T2  T1
f^1 ðhÞ ¼ ea1 ðT2 T1 Þh ¼ eah , ‘‘a’’ the viscosity parameter, f^2 ðhÞ ¼ 1 þ b1 ðT2  T1 Þh ¼ 1 þ bh, ‘‘b’’ is
the electric conductivity parameter, Ha2 ¼ r0 B20 h2 =l0 , Ha is the Hartmann number, R ¼ KNh2 =l0
 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875 867

is the particle concentration parameter, G ¼ mp l0 =qh2 K is the particle mass parameter, Ec ¼

l20 =ðh2 cq2 ðT2  T1 ÞÞ is the Eckert number, L0 ¼ qh2 =l0 cT is the temperature relaxation time pa-
rameter.
In terms of the above non-dimensional variables and parameters Eqs. (1)–(6c) take the form
(the hats are dropped for convenience);
ou o2 u of1 ðhÞ ou
¼ a þ f1 ðhÞ 2 þ  f2 ðhÞHa2 u  Rðu  up Þ ð7Þ
ot oy oy oy

oup
G ¼ u  up ð8Þ
ot
t ¼ 0 : u ¼ up ¼ 0 ð9aÞ

t > 0 : u ¼ up ¼ 0; y ¼ 1 ð9bÞ

t > 0 : u ¼ up ¼ 0; y¼1 ð9cÞ

 2
oh 1 o2 h ou 2R
¼ 2
þ Ecf1 ðhÞ þ Ecf2 ðhÞHa2 u2 þ ðhp  hÞ ð10Þ
ot Pr oy oy 3Pr

ohp
¼ L0 ðhp  hÞ ð11Þ
ot
t ¼ 0 : h ¼ hp ¼ 0 ð12aÞ

t > 0 : h ¼ hp ¼ 0; y ¼ 1 ð12bÞ

t > 0 : h ¼ hp ¼ 1; y¼1 ð12cÞ

Eqs. (7), (8), (10) and (11) represent a system of coupled and non-linear partial differential
equations which are solved numerically under the initial and boundary conditions (9a)–(9c),
(12a)–(12c) using the finite difference approximations. The system is solved using the Crank–
Nicolson implicit method [18]. Finite difference equations relating the variables are obtained by
writing the equations at the mid point of the computational cell and then replacing the different
terms by their second order central difference approximations in the y-direction. The diffusion
term is replaced by the average of the central differences at two successive time levels. The non-
linear terms are first linearized and then an iterative scheme is used at every time step to solve the
linearized system of difference equations. In the following discussion some parameters are given
the following fixed values: R ¼ 0:5, G ¼ 0:8, a ¼ 5, Pr ¼ 1, Ec ¼ 0:2, and L0 ¼ 0:7.

3. Results and discussion

Fig. 2(a)–(d) show the effect of the viscosity parameter ‘‘a’’ on the time development of the
velocities u and up , and the temperatures h and hp , respectively, at the center of the channel (y ¼ 0)
for Ha ¼ 0 and \b" ¼ 0. Fig. 2(a) and (b) indicate that increasing ‘‘a’’ increases u and up and the
868 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

Fig. 2. Effect of the parameter ‘‘a’’ on the time development of: (a) u, (b) up , (c) h, and (d) hp (Ha ¼ 0).

time required to approach the steady state as a result of decreasing the viscous forces. The effect of
the parameter ‘‘a’’ on the steady state time is more pronounced for positive values of ‘‘a’’ than for
negative values. Notice that u reaches the steady state faster than up : This is expected because the
fluid velocity is the source for the dust particles velocity. Fig. 2(c) and (d) show that increasing ‘‘a’’
increases h and hp and their steady state times. This is due to the fact that increasing ‘‘a’’ increases
the velocity u and its gradient which, in turn, increases the viscous dissipation and then increases
the temperatures. The time at which hp reaches the steady state is longer than that for h since hp
always follows h.
Fig. 3(a)–(d) present the effect of the viscosity parameter ‘‘a’’ on the time development of u, up ;
h and hp , respectively, at the centre of the channel (y ¼ 0) for Ha ¼ 1 and \b" ¼ 0. The application
of the uniform magnetic field adds one resistive term to the momentum equation and the Joule
 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875 869

Fig. 3. Effect of the parameter ‘‘a’’ on the time development of: (a) u, (b) up , (c) h, and (d) hp (Ha ¼ 1).

dissipation term to the energy equation. As shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b), the magnetic field results in
a reduction in the velocities u and up and their steady state times for all values of ‘‘a’’ due to its
damping effect. Fig. 3(c) and (d) indicate that the introduction of the magnetic field increases the
temperatures h and hp for all values of ‘‘a’’ as a result of increasing the Joule dissipation.
Fig. 4(a)–(d) show the effect of the electric conductivity parameter ‘‘b’’ on the time development
of the velocities u and up ; and the temperatures h and hp , respectively, at the center of the channel
(y ¼ 0) for Ha ¼ 1 and \a" ¼ 0. Fig. 4(a) and (b) indicate that increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases u and up
and the time required to approach their steady state as a result of increasing the damping mag-
netic force. Fig. 4(c) and (d) show that the effect of ‘‘b’’ on h and hp depends on t. For small values
of t, increasing ‘‘b’’ increases both h and hp due to the increase in the electric conductivity and
870 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

Fig. 4. Effect of the parameter ‘‘b’’ on the time development of: (a) u, (b) up , (c) h, and (d) hp (Ha ¼ 1).

hence the Joule dissipation while the velocity u is very small, and is not greatly affected by
changing ‘‘b’’. As time develops, increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases h and hp because now u is not small and
increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases the Joule and viscous dissipations. This results in a cross-over of the h
and hp charts with time for various values of ‘‘b’’. The cross-over is more clear for h than for hp .
Also, comparing Fig. 4(a) and (b) with Fig. 4(c) and (d) shows that changing ‘‘b’’ has a more
apparent effect on the velocities than the temperatures for both the fluid and dust particles.
Fig. 5(a)–(d) present the effect of the viscosity parameter ‘‘a’’ on the steady state profiles of the
velocities u and up , and the temperatures h and hp for Ha ¼ 1 and \b" ¼ 0. Shown in Fig. 5(a) and
(b), for the case of ‘‘a’’ ¼ 0, the velocity profile is symmetric about the y ¼ 0 plane while changing
‘‘a’’ results in asymmetric velocity profiles. Increasing ‘‘a’’ increases the steady state velocity and
 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875 871

Fig. 5. Effect of the parameter ‘‘a’’ on the steady state profiles of: (a) u, (b) up , (c) h, and (d) hp (Ha ¼ 1).

shifts the peak of the velocity profile towards the upper plate. The shifts in the y-direction for the
peak of the curve are in fact due to the contribution of the third term in the right-hand side of Eq.
(7) which results from the variation of the viscosity with temperature. For positive or negative
values of ‘‘a’’, this term is equivalent to a variable injection or suction normal to the plates re-
spectively. Fig. 5(c) and (d) show that increasing ‘‘a’’ increases the temperatures h and hp for all
values of y. In some regions the temperatures exceed unity (the temperature of the upper hot
plate) due to the effect of viscous and Joule heating.
Fig. 6(a)–(d) present the effect of the electric conductivity parameter ‘‘b’’ on the steady state
profiles of the velocities u and up , and the temperatures h and hp for Ha ¼ 1 and ‘‘a’’ ¼ 0. As
shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b), increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases u and up for all values of y because it increases
the damping magnetic force. Notice that, the variations of ‘‘b’’ has no effect on the symmetry of
872 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

Fig. 6. Effect of the parameter ‘‘a’’ on the steady state profiles of: (a) u, (b) up , (c) h, and (d) hp (Ha ¼ 1).

the velocity profiles. Fig. 6(c) indicates that increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases h for all values of y. This may
be due to the fact that increasing ‘‘b’’ increases the damping force on u and, in turn, decreases u
and its gradient which reduce the viscous and Joule dissipations and consequently reduces h. Fig.
6(d) shows that increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases hp for all values of y due to the decrease in h. The effect of
changing ‘‘b’’ on h is more pronounced than hp .
Fig. 6(c) and (d) present an interesting result which is that the influence of the variation of ‘‘b’’
on the temperatures h and hp can be neglected near the center-line of the channel (y ¼ 0). This can
be attributed to the fact that the parameter ‘‘b’’ affects the temperature in two different ways.
First, increasing ‘‘b’’ increases the magnetic damping which decreases the velocity and, in turn,
decreases the viscous and Joule dissipations and consequently h and hp decrease. On the other
hand, increasing ‘‘b’’ increases the electric conductivity which may increase the Joule dissipation
 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875 873

and then increases h and hp . Now, it is clear from Fig. 6(c) and (d) that changing ‘‘b’’ decreases h
and hp in the region away from the center of the channel while keeps them almost invariant near
the center. This means that, when changing ‘‘b’’, the viscous dissipation has the dominant effect
which reduces the temperatures away from the center of the channel. On the other hand, near the
center, the velocity gradient and consequently the viscous dissipation are neglected and, in turn,
the temperatures become invariant.
Tables 1–4 present the variation of the steady state values of u, up , h, and hp , respectively, at the
center of the channel (y ¼ 0) for various values of ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ and for Ha ¼ 1. It is clear that

Table 1
Variation of the steady state velocity u at y ¼ 0 for various values of ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ (Ha ¼ 1)
a ¼ 0:5 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:0 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:5
b ¼ 0:5 1.4954 1.9525 2.0149 2.0805 2.8576
b ¼ 0:05 1.3803 1.7341 1.7793 1.8259 2.3206
b ¼ 0:0 1.3686 1.7129 1.7566 1.8016 2.2732
b ¼ 0:05 1.3571 1.6922 1.7345 1.7778 2.2279
b ¼ 0:5 1.2619 1.5279 1.5596 1.5917 1.8975

Table 2
Variation of the steady state velocity up at y ¼ 0 for various values of ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ (Ha ¼ 1)
a ¼ 0:5 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:0 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:5
b ¼ 0:5 1.4800 1.9139 1.9719 2.0323 2.7169
b ¼ 0:05 1.3695 1.7100 1.7529 1.7971 2.2547
b ¼ 0:0 1.3582 1.6899 1.7316 1.7743 2.2125
b ¼ 0:05 1.3471 1.6705 1.7108 1.7520 2.1719
b ¼ 0:5 1.2549 1.5140 1.5447 1.5758 1.6893

Table 3
Variation of the steady state temperature h at y ¼ 0 for various values of ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ (Ha ¼ 1)
a ¼ 0:5 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:0 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:5
b ¼ 0:5 0.7973 0.8987 0.9129 0.9279 1.1007
b ¼ 0:05 0.7996 0.8975 0.9109 0.9249 1.0820
b ¼ 0:0 0.7996 0.8968 0.9101 0.9239 1.0781
b ¼ 0:05 0.7996 0.8961 0.9092 0.9229 1.0741
b ¼ 0:5 0.7977 0.8866 0.8982 0.9102 1.0349

Table 4
Variation of the steady state temperature hp at y ¼ 0 for various values of ‘‘a’’ and ‘‘b’’ (Ha ¼ 1)
a ¼ 0:5 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:0 a ¼ 0:05 a ¼ 0:5
b ¼ 0:5 0.7108 0.7889 0.7995 0.8105 0.9295
b ¼ 0:05 0.7142 0.7918 0.8022 0.8129 0.9284
b ¼ 0:0 0.7143 0.7917 0.8019 0.8126 0.9267
b ¼ 0:05 0.7144 0.7914 0.8016 0.8122 0.9249
b ¼ 0:5 0.7142 0.7867 0.7960 0.8056 0.9035
874 H.A. Attia / Appl. Math. Modelling 26 (2002) 863–875

increasing ‘‘a’’ increases the steady state velocities and temperatures for both the fluid and dust
particle for all values of ‘‘b’’. However, its effect is more pronounced for small values of ‘‘b’’.
Increasing the parameter ‘‘b’’ decreases the velocities u and up for all values of ‘‘a’’ and its effect is
more apparent for higher values of ‘‘a’’. The influence of ‘‘b’’ on h and hp depends on ‘‘a’’. Unless
‘‘a’’ has a large and negative value, increasing ‘‘b’’ decreases h as a result of increasing the
damping magnetic force which decreases the velocity and consequently the dissipations. However,
for large and negative values of ‘‘a’’ (a ¼ 0:5), increasing ‘‘b’’, while it is negative, increases h.
This can be attributed to the fact that, increasing ‘‘b’’, although it decreases the velocity, it in-
creases the Joule dissipation as a result of increasing r. At the same time, for the case a ¼ 0:5,
due to the large decrease in viscous forces which has a more pronounced effect than the increase in
the damping magnetic force as a result of increasing ‘‘b’’, the velocity increases. Table 4 shows also
that, unless ‘‘a’’ is large and positive (a ¼ 0:5), increasing ‘‘b’’, while it is negative, increases hp due
to the net increase in the Joule dissipation which increases h. For large positive values of ‘‘a’’, hp
decreases with increasing ‘‘b’’ since h decreases. It is also clear from Tables 1–4 that the ‘‘b’’ has a
more pronounced effect on the velocity than the temperature.

4. Conclusions

In this paper the unsteady MHD flow and heat transfer of a dusty and electrically conducting
fluid have been studied in the presence of an external uniform magnetic field taking into con-
sideration the variations of the viscosity and electric conductivity of the fluid with temperature.
The variation of the viscosity of the fluid has an apparent effect on the velocity and temperature
fields for both the fluid and dust particles. On the other hand, the variation in the electric con-
ductivity of the fluid has a more pronounced effect on the velocity and temperature fields for both
the fluid and dust particles. One of the interesting results is that the variation in the electric
conductivity of the fluid has no noticeable effect on the temperature distributions for the fluid and
dust particles near the center of the channel. Also, changing the viscosity parameter ‘‘a’’ leads to
asymmetric velocity profiles about the central plane of the channel (y ¼ 0) which is similar to the
effect of variable percolation perpendicular to the plates. However, changing the electric con-
ductivity has no effect on the symmetry of the velocity profiles.

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