Stagnation point flow towards a stretching/shrinking sheet in a micropolar fluid with a convective surface boundary condition

The problem of a steady laminar two-dimensional stagnation point flow towards a stretching/shrinking sheet in a micropolar fluid with a convective surface boundary condition is studied. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations using a similarity transformation, before being solved numerically using the RungeKuttaFehlberg method with shooting technique. The effects of the material parameter and the convective parameter on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are disscussed. It is found that the skin friction coefficient and the heat transfer rate at the surface decrease with increasing values of the material parameter. Moreover, dual solutions are found to exist for the shrinking case, while for the stretching case, the solution is unique. (C) 2011 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering