Abstract

This paper examines the effect of heat generation or absorption on the free convection flow of an incompressible, electrically conducting fluid about an isothermal truncated cone in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. The non-linear coupled partial differential equations governing the flow and heat transfer have been solved numerically, using an efficient implicit finite-difference scheme along with quasilinearization technique. The nonsimilar solutions have been obtained for the problem overcoming numerical difficulties near the leading edge and in the downstream regime, for air (Pr = 0.72). The effects of various physical parameters on skin friction and heat transfer coefficients and, on velocity and temperature are shown graphically for different values of magnetic parameter (M) and heat generation/absorption parameter (Q). It is observed that, magnetic field decreases both skin friction and heat transfer coefficients. The effect of heat generation or absorption is found to be very significant on heat transfer, but its effect on skin friction is negligible.