Melting effect on steady laminar flow of a micropolar fluid over a stagnation point on a vertical surface

Steady laminar flow of a micropolar fluid towards a stagnation point on a vertical melting surface is investigated. The external velocity is normal to the wall, and the wall temperature is assumed to vary linearly with distance from the stagnation point. The transformed nonlinear ordinary differential equations describing the flow are solved numerically by a cubic spline collocation method. The skin friction coefficient, local Nusselt number, as well as the velocity and temperature profiles for different values of the governing parameters, are presented. The effects of the melting and material parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are examined thoroughly. The results show that both the material and melting parameters reduce the heat transfer rate on the fluid-solid interface. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.