Group Theory and Differential Transform Analysis of Mixed Convective Heat and Mass Transfer From a Horizontal Surface With Chemical Reaction Effects

Viscous, laminar mixed convection boundary-layer flow over a horizontal plate, with chemical reaction, is considered. The governing equations are expressed in nondimensional form. Group theory is employed to determine the invariant solutions of these equations under a particular continuous one-parameter group. Series solutions of the transformed coupled system of equations are then generated for velocity, temperature, and concentration functions using the Differential Transform Method (DTM) with Padé approximants. The influence of thermal buoyancy parameter, species buoyancy parameter, chemical reaction parameter, order of chemical reaction, Prandtl number, and Schmidt number on the flow characteristics is evaluated in detail The obtained solutions are verified by comparison with the numerical shooting quadrature results. Applications of the study arise in sheet materials processing, bio-reactors, and catalytic systems in chemical engineering.