On the analytic solution of MHD flow and heat transfer for two types of viscoelastic fluid over a stretching sheet with energy dissipation, internal heat source and thermal radiation

In this paper we study the magneto-hydrodynamic flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting, viscoelastic fluid past a stretching surface, taking into account the effects of Joule and viscous dissipation, internal heat generation/absorption, work done due to deformation and thermal radiation. Closed-form solutions for the boundary layer equations of the flow are presented for two classes of viscoelastic fluid, namely, the second-grade and Walters' liquid B fluids. Thermal transport is analyzed for two types of non-isothermal boundary conditions, i.e. prescribed surface temperature (PST) and prescribed surface heat flux (PHF) varying as a power of the distance from the origin. Results for some special cases of the present analysis are in excellent agreement with the existing literature. The effects of various physical parameters, such as viscoelasticity, magnetic parameter, thermal radiation parameter, heat source/sink parameter, Prandtl number, Eckert number and suction/injection parameter on the velocity and temperature profiles, skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number are examined and discussed in detail. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.