Application of homotopy perturbation method for MHD free convection of water at 4 ºC through porous medium bounded by a moving vertical plate

Abstract

An analysis has been made to study the problem of two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) free convection of water at 4 ºC through porous medium bounded by a moving vertical plate. The governing partial differential equations have been transformed into self-similar ordinary differential equations using similarity transformations before being solved by He’s homotopy perturbation method (HPM). The main advantage of HPM is that it does not require the small parameters in the equations and hence the limitations of traditional perturbation can be eliminated. The results reveal that the proposed method is very effective and simple and can be applied to other nonlinear problems. A parametric study of all involved physical parameters has been conducted and a representative set of numerical results for the velocity, temperature and skin-friction has been illustrated graphically. Physical aspects of the problem have also been discussed.