Unsteady free convection flow near the stagnation point of a three-dimensional body in micropolar fluid

Abstract

This paper deals with the study of unsteady free convection in the stagnation point region of a three-dimensional body in micropolar fluid. The fluid is considered in an ambient fluid under the assumption of a step change in the surface temperature of the body. The non-linear coupled partial differential equations governing the free convection flow are solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference method for different values of the governing parameters entering these equations. Results for the flow and heat characteristics show that the transition from the initial unsteady-state flow to the final steady-state flow takes place smoothly.