Similar solution for three‐dimensional flow in an Oldroyd‐B fluid over a stretching surface

The present investigation deals with the three‐dimensional flow of an Oldroyd‐B fluid over a stretching surface. The governing equations for the three‐dimensional flow are developed. Similarity transformations are invoked for the conversion of nonlinear partial differential equations into the coupled system of ordinary differential equations. Computations for the series solution are presented through implementation of homotopy analysis method. The salient features of the involved parameters have been pointed out. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The laminar free‐convection boundary‐layer flow about a heated and rotating down‐pointing vertical cone in the presence of a transverse magnetic field

This paper deals with the study of the laminar free‐convection boundary‐layer flow about a heated and rotating down‐pointing vertical cone in the presence of a transverse magnetic field. Two cases of heat transfer analysis are discussed. These are: (i) the rotating cone with prescribed surface temperature and (ii) the rotating cone with prescribed surface heat flux. By means of similarity transformation, the governing partial differential equations are reduced into highly non‐linear ordinary differential equations. The resulting non‐linear system has been solved analytically using a very efficient technique, namely homotopy analysis method. Expressions for velocity and temperature fields are developed in a series form. The influence of various pertinent parameters is also seen on the velocity and temperature fields. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three‐dimensional flow of an elastico‐viscous fluid with mass transfer

This paper looks at the unsteady three‐dimensional MHD flow of an elastico‐viscous fluid over a stretching surface. The analysis of mass transfer is also analyzed. The governing boundary layer equations are reduced into partial differential equations with three dependent variables through similarity transformations. The transformed system of equations is solved analytically by employing homotopy analysis method (HAM). Plots for various interesting parameters are presented and discussed. Numerical data for surface shear stresses and surface mass transfer in steady case are also tabulated. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Free convection of a dusty‐gas flow along a semi‐infinite vertical cylinder

An analysis is performed to study the free convection of a dusty‐gas flow along a semi‐infinite isothermal vertical cylinder. The governing equations of the flow problem are transformed into non‐dimensional form and the resulting nonlinear, coupled parabolic partial differential equations have been solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme of Crank–Nicholson type. The flow variables such as gas–velocity, dust‐particle velocity and temperature, shearing stress and heat transfer coefficients are calculated numerically for various parameters occurring in the problem. It is observed that due to the presence of dust particles, the gas velocity is found to decrease. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hall and ion‐slip effects on three‐dimensional flow of a second grade fluid

This investigation pursues the study of Hall and ion‐slip effects on steady three‐dimensional flow of an incompressible second grade fluid. The partial differential equations are reduced to ordinary differential equations by using similarity variables. The resulting problems are solved by employing homotopy analysis method (HAM). The convergence of derived solutions is ensured. The influence of different physical parameters on the dimensionless velocities is examined by sketching plots. Variation of skin friction coefficients for different involved parameters is seen through tabulated values. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depth‐averaged two‐dimensional curvilinear explicit finite analytic model for open‐channel flows

A depth‐averaged two‐dimensional model has been developed in the curvilinear co‐ordinate system for free‐surface flow problems. The non‐linear convective terms of the momentum equations are discretized based on the explicit–finite–analytic method with second‐order accuracy in space and first‐order accuracy in time. The other terms of the momentum equations, as well as the mass conservation equation, are discretized by the finite difference method. The discretized governing equations are solved in turn, and iteration in each time step is adopted to guarantee the numerical convergence. The new model has been applied to various flow situations, even for the cases with the presence of sub‐critical and supercritical flows simultaneously or sequentially. Comparisons between the numerical results and the experimental data show that the proposed model is robust with satisfactory accuracy. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non-linear flexural-flexural-torsional-extensional dynamics of beams—I. Formulation

The non-linear differential equations of motion, and boundary conditions, for Euler-Bernoulli beams able to experience flexure along two principal directions (and, thus, flexure in any direction in space), torsion and extension are formulated. The beam's material is assumed to be Hookean but its properties may vary along its span. The nonlinearities present in the differential equations include contributions from the curvature expression and from inertia terms. A set of differential equations with polynomial nonlinearities to cubic order, suitable for a perturbation analysis of the motion, is also developed and the validity of the inextensional approximation is assessed. The equations developed here reduce to those for an inextensional beam. In Part II of this paper, a specific example of application is analyzed and the results obtained are compared with those available in the literature where several non-linear terms have been neglected a priori.     

The use of Sinc‐collocation method for solving Falkner–Skan boundary‐layer equation

The MHD Falkner–Skan equation arises in the study of laminar boundary layers exhibiting similarity on the semi‐infinite domain. The proposed approach is equipped by the orthogonal Sinc functions that have perfect properties. This method solves the problem on the semi‐infinite domain without truncating it to a finite domain and transforming domain of the problem to a finite domain. In addition, the governing partial differential equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using similarity variables, and then they are solved numerically by the Sinc‐collocation method. It is shown that the Sinc‐collocation method converges to the solution at an exponential rate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Volume‐tracking of subgrid particles

A new PLIC‐VOF method is proposed to track deformable particles, such as bubbles and liquid droplets, that can be smaller than the grid spacing. The idea is to replace the surface normal (SN) calculation used in the PLIC, by the SN vector obtained from partial differential equations that are solved together with the advection algorithm. The equations for the evolution of SN vector are derived, and examined by using the first‐order and the second‐order upwind schemes. Since the normal vector is defined in every cell, the method generally improves the accuracy at low grid resolution. It is found that a normal vector of zero magnitude is located at the centroid of a particle, to second‐order accuracy for small particles. The motion of a subgrid particle is controlled by the arrival of the zero vector in the present PLIC/SN method, so that the particle can be translated at the right speed without any additional treatment. This has been numerically verified by simulating a particle of one‐tenth of grid spacing traveling in three different directions, in addition to a few typical test cases. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MHD squeezing flow of second‐grade fluid between two parallel disks

This paper examines the unsteady two‐dimensional flow of a second‐grade fluid between parallel disks in the presence of an applied magnetic field. The continuity and momentum equations governing the unsteady two‐dimensional flow of a second‐grade fluid are reduced to a single differential equation through similarity transformations. The resulting differential system is computed by a homotopy analysis method. Graphical results are discussed for both suction and blowing cases. In addition, the derived results are compared with the homotopy perturbation solution in a viscous fluid (Math. Probl. Eng., DOI: 10.1155/2009/603916 ). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of unsteady turbulent flows around moving aerofoils using the pseudo‐time method

The pseudo‐time formulation of Jameson has facilitated the use of numerical methods for unsteady flows, these methods have proved successful for steady flows. The formulation uses iterations through pseudo‐time to arrive at the next real time approximation. This iteration can be used in a straightforward manner to remove sequencing errors introduced when solving mean flow equations together with another set of differential equations (e.g. two‐equation turbulence models or structural equations). The current paper discusses the accuracy and efficiency advantages of removing the sequencing error and the effect that building extra equations into the pseudo‐time iteration has on its convergence characteristics. Test cases used are for the turbulent flow around pitching and ramping aerofoils. The performance of an implicit method for solving the pseudo‐steady state problem is also assessed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Boundary-layer flow of Reiner–Philippoff fluids past a stretching wedge

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the steady boundary-layer flow of a Reiner–Philippoff fluid induced by a 90° stretching wedge in a variable free stream. The governing partial differential equations are converted into a set of two ordinary differential equations by the use of a similarity transformation. The flow is therefore governed by a stretching velocity parameter λ and two non-Newtonian fluid parameters γ and μ₀. The variation of the skin friction, as well as other flow characteristics, as a function of the governing parameters is presented graphically and tabulated. A stability analysis has also been performed for this self-similar flow based on linear disturbances to the steady similarity solutions. The results presented in this paper reveal that there are no multiple (dual) solutions for the present problem and the unique solution is stable.     

Computer‐algebra multiple‐timescale method for spatially periodic thin‐film viscous‐flow problems

A flexible, fully automated, computer‐algebra algorithm is developed for solving a class of non‐linear partial‐differential evolution equations arising frequently in the modeling of two‐dimensional transient free‐surface viscous thin‐film flows. The method, which is formulated for solving spatially periodic problems, is based upon an explicit multiple‐timescale asymptotic approximation of the thin‐film thickness. It admits the resolution of diverse physical phenomena by employing a finite geometric progression of increasingly slow timescales. The method is implemented on a challenging test problem comprising the evolution of an annular film of viscous liquid, with a free surface, adhering to the exterior of a horizontal rotating circular cylinder; as a model for numerous industrially motivated coating flows, this benchmark problem has been analyzed in diverse numerical and theoretical studies, against whose results those of the present method are compared. The explicit algebraic form of the solution admits a study of large‐time evolutionary dynamics that lies beyond the reach of considerably more expensive conventional numerical solvers, thereby shedding new light on the hitherto‐undiscovered explicit dependence of large‐time evolutionary fluid dynamics in terms of independent parameters describing gravitational and capillary effects. The results obtained from the new computer‐algebra procedure are demonstrated to be in good agreement with those obtained from a bespoke efficient numerical integration method that is spectrally accurate in space and 8th‐order (Runge–Kutta) in time. Newly discovered mechanisms describing the decay of free‐surface wave modes, from arbitrary initial conditions to the steady state, are presented. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High‐order implicit time integration for unsteady incompressible flows

The spatial discretization of unsteady incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is stated as a system of differential algebraic equations, corresponding to the conservation of momentum equation plus the constraint due to the incompressibility condition. Asymptotic stability of Runge–Kutta and Rosenbrock methods applied to the solution of the resulting index‐2 differential algebraic equations system is analyzed. A critical comparison of Rosenbrock, semi‐implicit, and fully implicit Runge–Kutta methods is performed in terms of order of convergence and stability. Numerical examples, considering a discontinuous Galerkin formulation with piecewise solenoidal approximation, demonstrate the applicability of the approaches and compare their performance with classical methods for incompressible flows. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Periodic behavior of a nonlinear dynamical system

Nonlinear dynamical systems, being more of a realistic representation of nature, could exhibit a somewhat complex behavior. Their analysis requires a thorough investigation into the solution of the governing differential equations. In this paper, a class of third order nonlinear differential equations has been analyzed. An attempt has been made to obtain sufficient conditions in order to guarantee the existence of periodic solutions. The results obtained from this analysis are shown to be beneficial when studying the steady-state response of nonlinear dynamical systems. In order to obtain the periodic solutions for any form of third order differential equations, a computer program has been developed on the basis of the fourth order Runge-Kutta method together with the Newton-Raphson algorithm. Results obtained from the computer simulation model confirmed the validity of the mathematical approach presented for these sufficient conditions.     

Assessment of numerical uncertainty for the calculations of turbulent flow over a backward‐facing step

Numerical uncertainty analysis has been performed for the turbulent flow past a backward‐facing step. The analysis is based on calculations on seven non‐rectangular, but structured, grid sets that were provided by the organizers of the 2004 Lisbon Workshop (Proceedings of the Workshop on CFD Uncertainty Analysis, Lisbon, 21–22 October 2004). The calculations were performed by using a commercial code, namely, FLUENT with the Spalart–Allmaras one‐equation turbulence model. The present study constitutes a calculation verification process: a set of partial differential equations are solved on gradually refined grid sets, the selected quantities are extrapolated, and then the overall numerical uncertainty in selected quantities is estimated by various methods. Some new ideas are presented for estimating the coefficient of variation, which is related to standard deviation (or standard error of estimate in case of the least squares method). The major problem that stands out in extrapolation is the cases of non‐monotonic convergence. For such cases some alternative methods are proposed, and the results are compared to assess these methods. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An implicit numerical algorithm for solving non‐hydrostatic free‐surface flow problems

Details are given of the development of a two‐dimensional vertical numerical model for simulating unsteady free‐surface flows, using a non‐hydrostatic pressure distribution. In this model, the Reynolds equations and the kinematic free‐surface boundary condition are solved simultaneously, so that the water surface elevation can be integrated into the solution and solved for, together with the velocity and pressure fields. An efficient numerical algorithm has been developed, deploying implicit parameters similar to those used in the Crank–Nicholson method, and generating a block tri‐diagonal algebraic system of equations. The model has been applied to simulate a range of unsteady flow problems involving relatively strong vertical accelerations. The results show that the numerical algorithm described is able to produce accurate predictions and is also easy to apply. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The numerical solution of the transient two‐phase flow in rigid pipelines

Consideration is given in this paper to the numerical solution of the transient two‐phase flow in rigid pipelines. The governing equations for such flows are two coupled, non‐linear, hyperbolic, partial differential equations with pressure dependent coefficients. The fluid pressure and velocity are considered as two principle dependent variables. The fluid is a homogeneous gas–liquid mixture for which the density is defined by an expression averaging the two‐component densities where a polytropic process of the gaseous phase is admitted. Instead of the void fraction, which varies with the pressure, the gas–fluid mass ratio (or the quality) is assumed to be constant, and is used in the mathematical formulation. The problem has been solved by the method of non‐linear characteristics and the finite difference conservative scheme. To verify their validity, the computed results of the two numerical techniques are compared for different values of the quality, in the case where the liquid compressibility and the pipe wall elasticity are neglected. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of thermo‐solutal stratification on recirculation flow patterns in a backward‐facing step channel flow

This paper presents results on the combined effect of thermo‐solutal buoyancy forces on the recirculatory flow behavior in a horizontal channel with backward‐facing step and the ensuing impact on heat and mass transfer phenomena. The governing equations for double diffusive mixed convection are represented in velocity–vorticity form of momentum equations, velocity Poisson equations, energy and concentration equations. Galerkin's finite‐element method has been employed to solve the governing equations. Recirculatory flow fields with heat and mass transfer are simulated for opposing and aiding thermo‐solutal buoyancy forces by assuming suitable boundary conditions for energy and concentration equations. The effect of Richardson number (0.1?Ri?10) and buoyancy ratio (?10?N?10) on the recirculation bubble and Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are studied in detail. For Richardson number greater than unity, distinct variations in the gradients of Nusselt number and Sherwood number with buoyancy ratio are observed for flow regimes with opposing and aiding buoyancy forces. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high‐resolution wetting and drying algorithm for free‐surface hydrodynamics

A new wetting and drying algorithm for numerical modeling free‐surface flows is proposed and analyzed. A well structured, mildly nonlinear system for the discrete water surface elevation is derived from the governing differential equations by requiring a correct mass balance in wet areas as well as in the region of transition from wet to dry and from dry to wet. Existence and uniqueness of the numerical solution, along with a convergence analysis of an iterative scheme for the mildly nonlinear system, is provided. The present algorithm is devised to use high‐resolution bathymetric data at subgrid level. The resulting model is quite efficient, does not require a threshold value for minimal water depth, does not produce un‐physical negative water depths and generates accurate results with relatively coarse mesh and large time step size. These features are illustrated on a severe test‐case with known analytical solution. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.