Mixed convection flow due to a moving vertical plate parallel to free stream under the influence of Newtonian heating and thermal radiation

The steady mixed convection flow from a moving vertical plate in a parallel free stream is considered to investigate the combined effects of buoyancy force and thermal diffusion in presence of thermal radiation as well as Newtonian heating effects. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed into a non-dimensional form by a group of non-similar transformations. The resulting system of coupled non-linear partial differential equations is solved by an implicit finite difference scheme in conjunction with the quasi-linearization technique. Computations are performed and representative set is displayed graphically to illustrate the influence of the mixed convection parameter ( ), Prandtl number (Pr), the ratio of free stream velocity to the composite reference velocity ( ) and the radiation parameter (R) on the velocity and temperature profiles. The numerical results for the local skinfriction coefficient ( ) and surface temperature ( ) are also presented. The results show that the streamwise co-ordinate significantly influences the flow and thermal fields which indicate the importance of non-similar solutions. Also, it is observed that the increase of mixed convection parameter causes the increase in the magnitude of velocity profile about 65% for lower Prandtl number fluids (Pr=0.7), while it decreases in the temperature profile about 30%. Present results are compared with previously published work and are found to be in excellent agreement.