Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the three-dimensional flow of Maxwell fluid with variable thermal conductivity in presence of heat source/sink.
Design/methodology/approach - Similarity transformations are utilized to reduce the nonlinear partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations. The governing nonlinear problems are solved by homotopy analysis method.
Findings - The paper found that the velocities decrease while temperature increases for higher Hartman number. It is also seen that the thermal boundary layer thickness and temperature are increased with an increase in variable thermal conductivity parameter and heat source/sink parameter.
Practical implications - Heat transfer analysis with heat source/sink has pivotal role in many industrial applications like cooling of an infinite metallic plate in a cooling bath, drawing of plastic films, nuclear plants, gas turbines, various propulsion devices for missiles, space vehicles and processes occurring at high temperatures.
Originality/value - This study discusses the magnetohydrodynamic three-dimensional flow of Maxwell fluid with variable thermal conductivity and heat source/sink. No such analysis exists in the literature yet.