An explicit analytic solution for convective heat transfer in an electrically conducting fluid at a stretching surface with uniform free stream

An analytic technique, namely the homotopy analysis method, is applied to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics in an electrically conducting fluid near an isothermal sheet. The sheet is linearly stretched in the presence of a uniform free stream of constant velocity and temperature. The effects of free convection and internal heat generation or absorption are also considered. Within the framework of boundary layer approximations, the explicit, totally analytic and uniformly valid solutions governed by a set of three fully coupled, highly non-linear equations are obtained, which agree well with numerical results. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.