Abstract
Lie group method is investigated for solving the problem of heat transfer in an unsteady, three-dimensional, laminar, boundary-layer flow of a viscous, incompressible and electrically conducting fluid over inclined permeable surface embedded in porous medium in the presence of a uniform magnetic field and heat generation/absorption effects. A uniform magnetic field is applied in the y-direction and a generalized flow model is presented to include the effects of the macroscopic viscous term and the microscopic permeability of porous medium. The infinitesimal generators accepted by the equations are calculated and the extension of the Lie algebra for the problem is also presented. The restrictions imposed by the boundary conditions on the generators are calculated. The investigation of the three-independent-variable partial differential equations is converted into a two-independent-variable system by using one subgroup of the general group. The resulting equations are solved numerically with the perturbation solution for various times. Velocity, temperature and pressure profiles, surface shear stresses, and wall-heat transfer rate are discussed for various values of Prandtl number, Hartmann number, Darcy number, heat generation/absorption coefficient, and surface mass-transfer coefficient. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.