Unsteady free convection flow over a three- dimensional stagnation point with internal heat generation or absorption

Abstract

This paper considers the effect of heat generation proportional to(T-T8)p, where T is the local temperature and T8 is the ambient temperature, in unsteady free convection flow near the stagnation point region of a three-dimensional body. The fluid is considered in an ambient fluid under the assumption of a step change in the surface temperature of the body. The non-linear coupled partial differential equations governing the free convection flow are solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference method for different values of the governing parameters entering these equations. The results for the flow and heat characteristics when p = 2 show that the transition from the initial unsteady-state flow to the final steady-state flow takes place smoothly. The behavior of the flow is seen strongly depend on the exponent p.