MHD mixed convection from a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium with a convective boundary condition

A numerical approach has been used to study the heat and mass transfer from a vertical plate embedded in a porous medium experiencing a first-order chemical reaction and exposed to a transverse magnetic field. Instead of the commonly used conditions of constant surface temperature or constant heat flux, a convective boundary condition is employed which makes this study unique and the results more realistic and practically useful. The momentum, energy, and concentration equations derived as coupled second-order, ordinary differential equations are solved numerically using a highly accurate and thoroughly tested finite difference algorithm. The effects of Biot number, thermal Grashof number, mass transfer Grashof number, permeability parameter, Hartmann number, Eckert number, Sherwood number and Schmidt number on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles are illustrated graphically. A table containing the numerical data for the plate surface temperature, the wall shear stress, and the local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers is also provided. The discussion focuses on the physical interpretation of the results as well their comparison with the results of previous studies. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.