Natural convection between vertical walls due to point/line heat source/sink

Abstract

In the present paper, we have investigated the influence of constant point/line heat source on fully developed free convective laminar flow between two infinite vertical walls of an electrically conducting and viscous incompressible fluid. The Heaviside step function is used to model the constant heat source/sink and further this function can be converted into line heat source/sink. The compact solution has been obtained by using Laplace transform method. The effects of physical parameters such as constant point/line heat source parameter and Hartmann number on the velocity and temperature fields are shown graphically while on skin friction, mass flow rate and Nusselt number of the fluid are presented in tabular form. It is found that the velocity and temperature field of the fluid increases when the point heat source changes into a line heat source. Also, we have observed that the velocity and temperature profiles increase as the value of constant point/line heat source parameter increases. © Springer Nature India Private Limited 2019.