Free convection heat and mass transfer of non-newtonian power law fluids with meld stress from a vertical flat plate in saturated porous media

Numerical analysis of free convection coupled heat and mass transfer is presented for non-Newtonian power law fluids with yield stress flowing over a vertical flat plate embedded in a fluid-saturated porous medium. The governing boundary layer equations and boundary conditions are cast into a dimensionless form by similarity transformation and the resulting system of equations is solved by a finite difference method. The parameters studied are the rheological constants, the buoyancy ratio, and the Lewis number. Representative heal and mass transfer rates as well as velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are presented and discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.