Heat and mass transfer flow of a micropolar fluid under convective boundary condition from a horizontal cylinder with temperature dependent viscosity and chemical reaction

The effects of variable viscosity and chemical reaction on heat and mass transfer by free convection boundary-layer flow of a micropolar fluid past a horizontal circular cylinder with thermal convictive surface is analyzed. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into a set of nonsimilar equations which are solved numerically by an implicit finite-difference method. Comparisons with previously published works are performed and excellent agreement is obtained. A parametric study of the physical parameters is conducted and a representative set of numerical results for the velocity, angular velocity, temperature, and concentration fields as well as the local skin-friction coefficient, wall couple stress, local Nusselt and Sherwood numbers is illustrated graphically to show interesting features of the solutions. © 2015 American Scientific Publishers.