Self-similar solution of the unsteady flow in the stagnation point region of a rotating sphere with a magnetic field

Abstract The unsteady flow and heat transfer of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid in the forward stagnation point region of a rotating sphere in the presence of a magnetic field are investigated in this study. The unsteadiness in the flow field is caused by the velocity at the edge of the boundary layer and the angular velocity of the rotating sphere, both varying continuously with time. The system of ordinary differential equations governing the flow is solved numerically. For some particular cases, an analytical solution is also obtained. It is found that the surface shear stresses in x- and y-directions and the surface heat transfer increase with the acceleration, the magnetic and the rotation parameters whether the magnetic field is fixed relative to the fluid or body, except that the surface shear stress in x-direction and the surface heat transfer decrease with increasing the magnetic parameter when the magnetic field is fixed relative to the body. For a certain value of the acceleration parameter, the surface shear stress in the x-direction vanishes while the surface shear stress in the y-direction and the surface heat transfer remain finite. Also, below a certain value of the acceleration parameter, reverse flow occurs in the x-component of the velocity profile.