Radiation and Mass Transfer Effects on Transient Free Convection Flow of a Dissipative Fluid past Semi-Infinite Vertical Plate with Uniform Heat and Mass Flux

Effect of radiation and mass transfer on the transient free convection flow of a dissipative past semi-infinite vertical plate with uniform heat and mass flux is analyzed, by taking into account the effect of viscous dissipation. This type of problems finds application in many technological and engineering fields such as plasma studies, petroleum industries, MHD energy generators, cooling of nuclear reactors, the boundary layer control in aerodynamics, crystal growth and furnace engineering. The Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat transfer in the limit of the optically thick fluid. The non-linear, coupled equations are solved using an implicit finite difference scheme of Crank-Nicolson type. Transient temperature, concentration and velocity profiles, local and average skin-friction coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are presented graphically and discussed. It is observed that, when the radiation parameter increases the velocity and temperature decrease accompanied by simultaneous reduction in both momentum and thermal boundary layers.