A Study for MHD Boundary Layer Flow of Variable Viscosity over a Heated Stretching Sheet via Lie-Group Method

The present work deals with the study of Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow over a heated stretching sheet with variable fluid viscosity. The fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature in the presence of uniform transverse magnetic field. The fluid is assumed to be electric ally conducting. Lie-group method is applied for determining symmetry reductions for the MHD boundary-layer equations. Lie-group method starts out with a general infinitesimal group of tran sformations under which the given partial differential equations are invariant. The determining equations are a set of linear diffe rential equations, the solution of which gives the transformation function or the infinitesimals of the dependent and independent variable s. After the group has been determined, a solution to the given partial differe ntial equations may be found from the invariant surface condition such that its solution leads to similarity variables that reduce the n umber of independent variables of the system. The effect of the Hartmann number (M ), the viscosity parameter ( A ) and the Prandtl number ( Pr ) on the horizontal and vertical velocities, temperature pr ofiles, wall heat transfer and the wall shear stress (skin friction) , have been studied and the results are plotted.