Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2010 (2010), Article ID 627475, 20 pages
doi:10.1155/2010/627475
Research Article

The Effects of Thermal Radiation, Hall Currents, Soret, and Dufour on MHD Flow by Mixed Convection over a Vertical Surface in Porous Media

Stanford Shateyi,1 Sandile Sydney Motsa,2 and Precious Sibanda3

1Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa
2Mathematics Department, University of Swaziland, Private Bag 4, M201 Kwaluseni, Swaziland
3Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville , Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa

Received 29 July 2009; Revised 14 January 2010; Accepted 8 March 2010

Academic Editor: Dane Quinn

Copyright © 2010 Stanford Shateyi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the influence of a magnetic field on heat and mass transfer by mixed convection from vertical surfaces in the presence of Hall, radiation, Soret (thermal-diffusion), and Dufour (diffusion-thermo) effects. The similarity solutions were obtained using suitable transformations. The similarity ordinary differential equations were then solved by MATLAB routine bvp4c. The numerical results for some special cases were compared with the exact solution and those obtained by Elgazery (2009) and were found to be in good agreement. A parametric study illustrating the influence of the magnetic strength, Hall current, Dufour, and Soret, Eckert number, thermal radiation, and permeability parameter on the velocity, temperature, and concentration was investigated.