Heat transfer in micropolar fluid along an inclined permeable plate with variable fluid properties

This paper studies the heat transfer process in a two-dimensional steady hydromagnetic natural convective flow of a micropolar fluid over an inclined permeable plate subjected to a constant heat flux condition. The analysis accounts for both temperature dependent viscosity and temperature dependent thermal conductivity. The local similarity equations are derived and solved numerically using the Nachtsheim-Swigert iteration procedure. Results for the dimensionless velocity and temperature profiles and the local rate of heat transfer are displayed graphically delineating the effect of various parameters characterizing the flow. The results show that in modeling the thermal boundary layer flow when both the viscosity and thermal conductivity are temperature dependent, the Prandtl number must be treated as a variable to obtain realistic results. As the thermal conductivity parameter increases, it promotes higher velocities and higher temperatures in the respective boundary layers. The wall shear stress increases with the increase of thermal conductivity parameter. This is true of electrically conducting as well as electrically non-conducting fluids. The presence of heat generation invigorates the flow and produces larger values of the local Nusselt number compared with the case of zero heat generation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.