Flow of a Viscous, Electrically Conducting Fluid along a Circular Cylinder or a Flate Plate with Uniform Suction

Abstract

An exact solution of the flow of a viscous, electrically conducting fluid with an externally imposed magnetic field normal to the wall is obtained for the incompressible flow along a circular cylinder or a flat plate with uniform suction. Analytical results show that if the Alfvén wave velocity is smaller than the suction velocity, a physically possible solution is obtained under a given boundary condition, and that the applied magnetic field acts on the flow as a decelerating action as expected from the general property of magnetic force, and as a result of this nature, the coefficient of skin-friction is reduced and that of Maxwell’s stress is increased, while the total drag is kept unchanged. Further, the solution reduces to that of the asymptotic suction flow of a non-conducting fluid when the magnetic field tends to zero.