International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 23 (2000), Issue 5, Pages 319-334
doi:10.1155/S0161171200001745
Similarity analysis for natural convection from a vertical plate with distributed wall concentration
Department of Applied Mathematics, Daltech, Dalhousie University, P.O. Box 1000, NS, Halifax B3J 2X4, Canada
Received 10 July 1998
Copyright © 2000 I. Mulolani and M. Rahman. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Steady laminar natural convection flow over a semi-infinite
vertical plate is examined in this paper. It is assumed that the
concentration of a species along the plate follows some algebraic
law with respect to chemical reaction. Similarity solutions may
then be obtained for different orders of reaction. The fundamental
parameters of this problem are the Schmidt number, Sc, and
reaction order, n. Numerical results, based on the fourth order
Runge-Kutta method, for Schmidt number ranging from 0.0 to 100.0 and reaction order from 0.0 to 1.5 are presented. When
chemical reaction occurs, diffusion and velocity domains are seen
to expand out from the plate. For large values of n, one may
expect a smaller diffusion layer which, at fixed Schmidt number, is
associated with increased velocity and reduced convection-layer.