Mixed convection about a non†isothermal vertical surface in a porous medium

The problem of mixed convection about non‐isothermal vertical surfaces in a saturated porous medium is analysed using boundary layer approximations. The analysis is made assuming that the surface temperature varies as an arbitrary function of the distance from the origin. A perturbation technique has been applied to obtain the solutions. Using the differentials of the wall temperature, which are functions of distance along the surface, as perturbation elements, universal functions are derived for various values of the governing parameter Gr/Re. Both aiding and opposing flows are considered. The universal functions obtained can be used to estimate the heat transfer and fluid velocity inside the boundary layer for any type of wall temperature variation. As a demonstration of the method, heat transfer results have been presented for the case of the wall temperature varying as a power function of the distance from the origin. The results have been studied for various combinations of the parameters Gr/Re and the power index m, taking both aiding and opposing flows into consideration. On comparing these results with those obtained by a similarity analysis, the agreement is found to be good. Copyright © 1988 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd