Effects of Radiation and Variable Fluid Viscosity on Flow and Heat Transfer along a Symmetric Wedge

Radiation effects on boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a fluid with variable viscosity along a symmetric wedge is presented here. Fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. The symmetry groups admitted by the corresponding boundary value problem are obtained by using a special form of Lie group transformations viz.scaling group of transformations. A third order and a second order coupled ordinary differential equation system corresponding to the momentum and the energy equations are obtained. These equations are then solved numerically.With the increase of temperature-dependent fluid viscosity parameter (i.e. with decreasing viscosity), the fluid velocity increases up to the cross-over point (η =η 0 ) (η 0 ≈ 0.90 is the nearest numerical value of the cross-over point) and after the crossing over point the fluid velocity is found to decrease but the temperature increases at a particular point.The significant finding of this study is that, due to variable fluid viscosity, flow separation is controlled. The temperature decreases with increasing value of radiation parameter and Prandtl number.