Finite Difference Analysis of Radiative Free Convection Flow Past an Impulsively Started Vertical Plate with Variable Heat and Mass Flux

A numerical solution of the unsteady radiative free convection flow of an incompressible viscous fluid past an impulsively started vertical plate with variable heat and mass flux is presented here. This type of problem finds application in many technological and engineering fields such as rocket propulsion systems, spacecraft re-entry aerothermodynamics, cosmical flight aerodynamics, plasma physics, glass production and furnace engineering. The fluid is gray, absorbing-emitting but non-scattering medium and the Rosseland approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. The governing non-linear, coupled equations are solved using an implicit finite difference scheme. Numerical results for the velocity, temperature, concentration, the local and average skinfriction, the Nusselt and Sherwood number are shown graphically, for different values of Prandtl number, Schmidt number, thermal Grashof number, mass Grashof number, radiation parameter, heat flux exponent and the mass flux exponent. It is observed that, when the radiation parameter increases, the velocity and temperature decrease in the boundary layer. The local and average skin-friction increases with the increase in radiation parameter. For increasing values of radiation parameter the local as well as average Nusselt number increases.