UDC 536.25

R. Muthucumaraswamya) and A. Vijayalakshmib)

HYDROMAGNETIC FLOW PAST AN IMPULSIVELY STARTED INFINITE VERTICAL PLATE WITH VARIABLE TEMPERATURE AND MASS DIFFUSION
@ABSTRACT = An exact solution of MHD Stokes problem for the flow of an electrically conducting, incompressible, viscous fluid past an impulsively started infinite vertical plate in the presence of variable temperature and mass diffusion is obtained. The dimensionless governing equations are solved using the Laplace-transform technique. The plate temperature and the concentration level near the plate increase linearly with time. The solutions for the velocity and skin friction are obtained for different magnetic field parameters and multiple buoyancy effects for aiding and opposing flows. It is observed that the velocity decreases in the presence of magnetic field as compared to its absence and that the skin friction increases in the presence of aiding flows and decreases with opposing flows. aDepartment of Information Technology, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Sriperumbudur 602105, India; bDepartment of Applied Mathematics, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Sriperumbudur 602105, India; e-mail: msamy@svce.ac.in. Original article submitted August 27, 2003.