MHD mixed convection boundary layer flow towards a stretching vertical surface with constant wall temperature

This work considers a steady two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of a viscous, incompressible and electrically conducting fluid over a stretching vertical surface with constant wall temperature. The external flow and the stretching velocities are assumed to vary with root x, where x is the distance from the slot where the surface is issued. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically for some values of the related parameters, namely the magnetic parameter M, the velocity ratio parameter epsilon and the mixed convection or buoyancy parameter lambda, while the Prandtl number Pr is fixed to unity, using a finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Both assisting and opposing flow cases are considered. It is found that the magnetic parameter M significantly affects the flow and the thermal fields, besides increasing the range of lambda for which the solution exists. Dual solutions are found to exist for some range of the mixed convection parameter. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.