Abstract
The problem of magnetohydrodynamic natural convection boundary layer flow of an electrically conducting and optically dense gray viscous fluid along a heated vertical plate is analyzed in the presence of strong cross magnetic field with radiative heat transfer. In the analysis radiative heat flux is considered by adopting optically thick radiation limit. Attempt is made to obtain the solutions valid for liquid metals by taking Pr << 1. Boundary layer equations are transformed in to a convenient dimensionless form by using stream function formulation (SFF) and primitive variable formulation (PVF). Non-similar equations obtained from SFF are then simulated by implicit finite difference (Keller-box) method whereas parabolic partial differential equations obtained from PVF are integrated numerically by hiring direct finite difference method over the entire range of local Hartmann parameter, xi. Further, asymptotic solutions are also obtained for large and small values of local Hartmann parameter xi. A favorable agreement is found between the results for small, large and all values of xi. Numerical results are also demonstrated graphically by showing the effect of various physical parameters on shear stress, rate of heat transfer, velocity, and temperature.