State space formulation to viscoelastic fluid flow of magnetohydrodynamic free convection through a porous medium

Summary In this work we formulate the state space approach for one-dimensional problems of viscoelastic magnetohydrodynamic unsteady free convection flow through a porous medium past an infinite vertical plate. Laplace transform techniques are used. The resulting formulation is applied to a thermal shock problem and to a problem for the flow between two parallel fixed plates both without heat sources. Also a problem with a distribution of heat sources is considered. A numerical method is employed for the inversion of the Laplace transforms. Numerical results are given and illustrated graphically for the problem considered.Notation C specific heat at constant pressure - g acceleration due to gravity - density - time - u velocity component parallel to the plate - H_x induced magnetic field - x, y coordinates system - T temperature distribution - T_o temperature of the plate - T temperature of the fluid away from the plate - ₀ limiting viscosity at small rates to shear - v_o^* / - v_m magnetic diffusivity - Alfven velocity - ^* coefficient of volume expansion - thermal conductivity - ^* thermal diffusivity - G Grashof number - Pr Prandtl number - L some characteristic length - k_o the elastic constant - K permeability of the porous medium