LAUSR

Abstract Dissipative effect on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) mixed convective unsteady flow of an electrically conducting fluid over a stretching sheet embedded in a porous medium subject to transverse magnetic field in the presence of non-uniform heat source/sink has been investigated in this paper. The method of solution involves similarity transformation. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations governing flow, heat and mass transfer phenomena are reduced into set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The transformed equations are solved numerically by using Runge–Kutta fourth order method associated with shooting technique. The numerical computation of skin friction, Nusselt number and Sherwood number is presented in tables. The work of previous authors is compared with the present work as particular cases in the absence of unsteady parameter, solutal buoyancy, Darcy dissipation and chemical reaction. The results of steady and unsteady cases are also discussed. The important findings are as follows: effect of electric field enhances the skin friction contributing to flow instability. Higher Prandtl number is suitable for the reduction of coefficient of skin friction which is desirable.