Finite Element Analysis of Radiative Mixed Convection Magneto-Micropolar Flow in a Darcian Porous Medium with Variable Viscosity and Convective Surface Condition

A mathematical study is presented for the collective influence of the buoyancy parameter, convective boundary parameter and temperature dependent viscosity on the steady mixed convective laminar boundary flow of a radiative magneto-micropolar fluid adjacent to a vertical porous stretching sheet embedded in a Darcian porous medium. The fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as an inverse linear function of temperature. Using appropriate transformations, the governing equations of the problem under consideration are transformed into a system of dimensionless nonlinear ordinary differential equations, which are then solved with the well-tested, efficient finite element method. The results obtained are depicted graphically to illustrate the effect of the various important controlling parameters on velocity, microrotation, and temperature functions. The skin friction coefficient, wall couple stress, and the rate of heat transfer have also been computed and presented in tabular form. Comparison of the present numerical results with earlier published data has been performed and the results are found to be in good agreement, thus validating the accuracy of the present numerical code. The study finds applications in conducting polymer flows in filtration systems, trickle bed magnetohydrodynamics in chemical engineering, electro-conductive materials processing, and so on. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj).