Unsteady MHD flow and heat transfer with viscous dissipation past a stretching sheet

Abstract In this paper a study is carried out to analyze the unsteady heat transfer effects of viscous dissipation on the steady boundary layer flow past a stretching sheet with prescribed constant surface temperature in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. The sheet is assumed to stretch linearly along the direction of the fluid flow. The assumed initial steady flow and temperature field neglecting dissipation effects becomes transient by accounting dissipation effects when time t ′ > 0. The temperature and the Nusselt number are computed numerically using an implicit finite difference method. The obtained steady temperature field with dissipation is of practical importance.