NON-NEWTONIAN MHD MIXED CONVECTIVE POWER-LAW FLUID FLOW OVER A VERTICAL STRETCHING SHEET WITH THERMAL RADIATION, HEAT GENERATION AND CHEMICAL REACTION EFFECTS

In the present approach, the problem of MHD mixed convective flow and heat and mass transfer of an electrically conducting non-Newtonian power-law fluid past a vertical stretching surface in the presence of thermal radiation, heat generation and chemical reaction is considered. The stretching velocity, temperature and concentration are assumed to vary in a power-law with the distance from the origin. The flow is induced due to an infinite elastic sheet which is stretched in its own plane. The governing equations are reduced to non-linear ordinary coupled differential equations by means of similarity transformations. These equations are then solved numerically by the Nactsheim-Swigert shooting technique together with Runge-Kutta six order iteration schemes. The numerical solution is found to be dependent on several governing parameters, including the magnetic parameter, powerlaw index, thermal conductive parameter/mixed convection parameter, mass convective parameter, radiation parameter, modified Prandtl number, heat source parameter, chemical reaction parameter and Schmidt number. A systematic study is carried out to illustrate the effects of these parameters on the fluid velocity and the temperature and distribution in the boundary layer. The results for the local skin-friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are tabulated and discussed. Comparison with previously published work is performed and excellent agreement is observed. The results obtained several many interesting behaviors that warrant further study on the equations related to non-Newtonian fluid phenomena.