• MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC STABILITY OF COUPLE STRESS FLUID FLOW IN A CHANNEL

Abstract

The linear stability of Magnetohydrodynamic poorly conducting couple stress viscous parallel fluid flow with velocity in a channel is studied in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field using the energy method. The sufficient condition for stability is obtained using the nature of growth rate, as well as sufficiently small values of the Reynolds number, . From this condition we found that the strengthening or weakening of the stability criterion is dictated by the strength of the magnetic field and coefficient of couple stress fluid parameter. In particular, we found that the interaction of magnetic field with couple stress fluid is more effective in stabilizing the poorly conducting couple stress fluid compared to that of ordinary Newtonian viscous fluid.