On the Separation of Magnetohydrodynamic Flow near the Rear Stagnation Point

Abstract

In order to examine the separation of a magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer, the development of the flow started from rest near the rear stagnation point in the presence of an applied magnetic field normal to a wall is considered by a usual unsteady approach as in the non-magnetic case on the assumption of small magnetic Reynolds number. The equations governing the flow are attempted to solve by series expansion in an unsteady parameter and series solutions are obtained in a form of integral. The skin friction up to the sixth order approximation calculated by numerical quadratures indicates that separation delays as N increases from zero (N=SRm, S: the pressure number, Rm: the magnetic Reynolds number) and when about N=1.2, separation is seen to be completely inhibited.