Stagnation-point flow of a viscoelastic fluid towards a stretching surface

An analysis is made of the steady two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscoelastic fluid over a flat deformable surface when the surface is stretched in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from the stagnation-point. It is shown that for a viscoelastic fluid of short memory (obeying Walters’ B′ model), a boundary layer is formed when the stretching velocity of the surface is less than the inviscid free-stream velocity and velocity at a point increases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. On the other hand, an inverted boundary layer is formed when the surface stretching velocity exceeds the velocity of the free stream and the velocity decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. A novel result of the analysis is that the flow near the stretching surface is that corresponding to an inviscid stagnation-point flow when the surface stretching velocity is equal to the velocity of the free stream. Temperature distribution in the boundary layer is found when the surface is held at constant temperature and surface heat flux is determined. It is found that temperature at a point decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid.     

Oblique stagnation-point flow of an incompressible visco-elastic fluid towards a stretching surface

An analysis is made of the steady two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscoelastic fluid over a flat deformable surface when the surface is stretched in its own plane with a velocity cx, where x is the distance from the stagnation-point and c is a positive constant. It is shown that for a viscoelastic fluid of short memory (obeying Walters’ B model), a boundary layer is formed when the stretching velocity of the surface is less than ax, where ax+2by is the inviscid free-stream velocity and y is the distance normal to the plate, a and b being constants and the velocity at a point increases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. On the other hand an inverted boundary layer is formed when the surface stretching velocity exceeds ax and the velocity decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. A novel result of the analysis is that the flow near the stretching surface is that corresponding to an inviscid stagnation-point flow when a=c. Temperature distribution in the boundary layer is found in three cases, namely: (i) the sheet with constant surface temperature (CST); (ii) the sheet with variable surface temperature (VST) and (iii) the sheet with prescribed quadratic power law surface heat flux (PHF) for various values of non-dimensional parameters. It is found that in all the three cases when a/c>1, temperature at a point decreases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid and when a/c<1, temperature at a point increases with increase in the elasticity of the fluid. Further temperature at a point decreases with increase in the radiation parameter and wall temperature parameter.     

Heat transfer in stagnation-point flow towards a stretching sheet

 Steady two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a flat deformable sheet is investigated when the sheet is stretched in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from the stagnation-point. It is shown that for a fluid of small kinematic viscosity, a boundary layer is formed when the stretching velocity is less than the free stream velocity and an inverted boundary layer is formed when the stretching velocity exceeds the free stream velocity. Temperature distribution in the boundary layer is found when the surface is held at constant temperature and surface heat flux is determined. Received on 12 July 2000 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Analytical solution to stagnation-point flow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet based on homotopy analysis

This paper is concerned with two-dimensional stagnation-point steady flow of an incompressible viscous fluid towards a stretching sheet whose velocity is proportional to the distance from the slit. The governing system of partial differential equations is first transformed into a system of dimensionless ordinary differential equations. Analytical solutions of the velocity distribution and dimensionless temperature profiles are obtained for different ratios of free stream velocity and stretching velocity, Prandtl number, Eckert number and dimensionality index in series forms using homotopy analysis method（HAM）. It is shown that a boundary layer is formed when the free stream velocity exceeds the stretching velocity, and an inverted boundary layer is formed when the free stream velocity is less than the stretching velocity. Graphs are presented to show the effects of different parameters.     

Magnetohydrodynamic stagnation-point flow of a power-law fluid towards a stretching surface

Steady two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an electrically conducting power-law fluid over a stretching surface is investigated when the surface is stretched in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from the stagnation-point. We have discussed the uniqueness of the solution except when the ratio of free stream velocity and stretching velocity is equal to 1. The effect of magnetic field on the flow characteristic is explored numerically and it is concluded that the velocity at a point decreases/increases with increase in the magnetic field when the free stream velocity is less/greater than the stretching velocity. It is further observed that for a given value of magnetic parameter M, the dimensionless shear stress coefficient |F^″(0)| increases with increase in power-law index n when the value of the ratio of free stream velocity and stretching velocity is close to 1 but not equal to 1. But when the value of this ratio further differs from 1, the variation of |F^″(0)| with n is non-monotonic.     

Heat transfer in oblique stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid towards a stretching surface

Steady two-dimensional oblique stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a flat deformable sheet is investigated when the sheet is stretched in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from the stagnation-point. It is shown that the flow has a boundary layer structure for values of a/c (> 1), where ax+2by and cx are the x-component of the free stream velocity and the stretching velocity of the plate respectively, x being the distance from the stagnation-point. On the other hand when a/c < 1, the flow has an inverted boundary layer structure. It is also observed that the velocity at a point increases with increase in the free stream shear. For a fixed value of a/c, the streamlines becomes more and more oblique towards the left of the stagnation-point with increase in b/c where b > 0. On the other hand the streamlines become increasingly oblique to the right of the stagnation-point with increase in |b/c| when b < 0. For a fixed value of the Prandtl number Pr, temperature at a point decreases with increase in a/c. Further for a given value of a/c, the surface heat flux increases with increase in Pr.     

Effects of thermal radiation and variable fluid viscosity on stagnation point flow past a porous stretching sheet

Similarity analysis is performed to investigate the structure of the boundary layer stagnation-point flow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet subject to suction. Fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. Thermal radiation term is considered in the energy equation. 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. With the help of them the partial differential equations corresponding to momentum and energy equations are transformed into highly non-linear ordinary differential equations. Numerical solutions of these equations are obtained by shooting method. It is found that the horizontal velocity increases with the increasing values of the ratio of the free stream velocity to the stretching velocity. Velocity increases with the increasing temperature dependent fluid viscosity parameter when the free-stream velocity is less than the stretching velocity but opposite behavior is noted when the free-stream velocity is greater than the stretching velocity. Due to suction, fluid velocity decreases at a particular point of the surface. Temperature at a point of the surface is found to decrease with increasing thermal radiation.     

Mixed convection boundary layers in the stagnation-point flow toward a stretching vertical sheet

An analysis is made for the steady mixed convection boundary layer flow near the two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a stretching vertical sheet in its own plane. The stretching velocity and the surface temperature are assumed to vary linearly with the distance from the stagnation-point. Two equal and opposite forces are impulsively applied along the x-axis so that the wall is stretched, keeping the origin fixed in a viscous fluid of constant ambient temperature. The transformed ordinary differential equations are solved numerically for some values of the parameters involved using a very efficient numerical scheme known as the Keller-box method. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed and discussed in detail. Both cases of assisting and opposing flows are considered. It is observed that, for assisting flow, both the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number increase as the buoyancy parameter increases, while only the local Nusselt number increases but the skin friction coefficient decreases as the Prandtl number increases. For opposing flow, both the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number decrease as the buoyancy parameter increases, but both increase as Pr increases. Comparison with known results is excellent.     

Scaling Transformations for Boundary Layer Flow near the Stagnation-Point on a Heated Permeable Stretching Surface in a Porous Medium Saturated with a Nanofluid and Heat Generation/Absorption Effects

In this article, a similarity solution of the steady boundary layer flow near the stagnation-point flow on a permeable stretching sheet in a porous medium saturated with a nanofluid and in the presence of internal heat generation/absorption is theoretically studied. The governing partial differential equations with the corresponding boundary conditions are reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations with the appropriate boundary conditions via Lie-group analysis. Copper (Cu) with water as its base fluid has been considered and representative results have been obtained for the nanoparticle volume fraction parameter f{\phi} in the range 0 ￡ f ￡ 0.2{0\leq \phi \leq 0.2} with the Prandtl number of Pr = 6.8 for the water working fluid. Velocity and temperature profiles as well as the skin friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are determined numerically. The influence of pertinent parameters such as nanofluid volume fraction parameter, the ratio of free stream velocity and stretching velocity parameter, the permeability parameter, suction/blowing parameter, and heat source/sink parameter on the flow and heat transfer characteristics is discussed. Comparisons with published results are also presented. It is shown that the inclusion of a nanoparticle into the base fluid of this problem is capable to change the flow pattern.     

Stagnation-point flow of upper-convected Maxwell fluids

Two-dimensional stagnation-point flow of viscoelastic fluids is studied theoretically assuming that the fluid obeys the upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) model. Boundary-layer theory is used to simplify the equations of motion which are further reduced to a single non-linear third-order ODE using the concept of stream function coupled with the technique of the similarity solution. The equation so obtained was solved using Chebyshev pseudo-spectral collocation-point method. Based on the results obtained in the present work, it is concluded that the well-established but controversial prediction that in stagnation-point flows of viscoelastic fluids the velocity inside the boundary layer may exceed that outside the layer may just be an artifact of the rheological model used in previous studies (namely, the second-grade model). No such peculiarity is predicted to exist for the Maxwell model. For a UCM fluid, a thickening of the boundary layer and a drop in wall skin friction coefficient is predicted to occur the higher the elasticity number. These predictions are in direct contradiction with those reported in the literature for a second-grade fluid.     

Stretching surface in rotating viscoelastic fluid

The boundary layer flow over a stretching surface in a rotating viscoelastic fluid is considered. By applying a similarity transformation, the governing partial differ- ential equations are converted into a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations before being solved numerically by the Keller-box method. The effects of the viscoelastic and rotation parameters on the skin friction coefficients and the velocity profiles are thor- oughly examined. The analysis reveals that the skin friction coefficients and the velocity in the x-direction increase as the viscoelastic parameter and the rotation parameter in- crease. Moreover, the velocity in the y-direction decreases as the viscoelastic parameter and the rotation parameter increase.     

Mixed convection stagnation-point flow on vertical stretching sheet with external magnetic field

The problem of steady laminar magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） mixed con- vection stagnation-point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a vertical stretch- ing sheet is studied. The effect of an externally magnetic field is taken into account. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically by using an implicit finite-difference scheme. Numerical results are obtained for various values of the mixed convection parameter, Hartmann number, and Prandtl number. The effects of an exter- nally magnetic field on the skin friction coefficient, local Nusselt number, velocity, and temperature profiles for both A 〉 1 and A ~ 1, where A is the velocity ratio parameter, are presented graphically and discussed in detail. Both assisting and opposing flows are considered, and it is found that dual solutions exist for the opposing flow.     

The influence of thermal radiation on MHD station-point flow past a stretching sheet with heat generation

This letter is concerned with the plane and axisymmetric stagnation-point flows and heat transfer of an electrically-conducting fluid past a stretching sheet in the presence of the thermal radiation and heat generation or absorption. The analytical solutions for the velocity distribution and dimensionless temperature profiles are obtained for the various values of the ratio of free stream velocity and stretching velocity, heat source parameter, Prandtl number, thermal radiation parameter, the suction and injection velocity parameter and magnetic parameter and dimensionality index in the series form with the help of homotopy analysis method (HAM). Convergence of the series is explicitly discussed. In addition, shear stress and heat flux at the surface are calculated.     

Stagnation-point flow of couple stress fluid with melting heat transfer

Melting heat transfer in the boundary layer flow of a couple stress fluid over a stretching surface is investigated. The developed differential equations are solved for homotopic solutions. It is observed that the velocity and the boundary layer thickness are decreasing functions of the couple stress fluid parameter. However, the temperature and surface heat transfer increase when the values of the couple stress fluid parameter increase. The velocity and temperature fields increase with an increase in the melting process of the stretching sheet.     

Three-dimensional flow of a viscoelastic fluid on an exponentially stretching surface

An analysis of a three-dimensional viscoelastic fluid flow over an exponentially stretching surface is carried out in the presence of heat transfer. Constitutive equations of a second-grade fluid are employed. The governing boundary layer equations are reduced by appropriate transformations to ordinary differential equations. Series solutions of these equations are found, and their convergence is discussed. The influence of the prominent parameters involved in the heat transfer process is analyzed. It is found that the effects of the Prandtl number, viscoelastic parameter, velocity ratio parameter, and temperature exponent on the Nusselt number are qualitatively similar.     

Mixed convection boundary layer flow near stagnation-point on vertical surface with slip

This paper considers the steady mixed convection boundary layer flow of a viscous and incompressible fluid near the stagnation-point on a vertical surface with the slip effect at the boundary. The temperature of the sheet and the velocity of the external flow are assumed to vary linearly with the distance from the stagnation-point. The governing partial differential equations are first transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations, which are then solved numerically by a shooting method. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics for different values of the governing parameters are analyzed and discussed. Both assisting and opposing flows are considered. The results indicate that for the opposing flow, the dual solutions exist in a certain range of the buoyancy parameter, while for the assisting flow, the solution is unique. In general, the velocity slip increases the heat transfer rate at the surface, while the thermal slip decreases it.     

A numerical study for three-dimensional viscoelastic flow inspired by non-linear radiative heat flux

Present article examines the three-dimensional flow of upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid over a radiative bi-directional stretching surface. Novel non-linear Rosseland formula for thermal radiation is utilized in the formulation of energy equation. The conventional transformations lead to a strongly non-linear differential system which is treated numerically through Runge–Kutta integration procedure together with the shooting approach. We found that heat transfer rate from the sheet has inverse as well as non-linear relationship with wall to ambient temperature ratio. Moreover an increase in viscoelastic fluid parameter (Deborah number) corresponds to a decrease in the fluid velocity and the boundary layer thickness.     

Effects of thermal stratification on flow and heat transfer past a porous vertical stretching surface

The aim of this paper is to present the boundary layer flow of viscous incompressible fluid due to a porous vertical stretching surface with a power-law stretching velocity in a thermally stratified medium. Using a special form of Lie group transformations viz. scaling group of transformations, similarity solutions for this problem are obtained. The equations are then solved numerically. With increasing values of the stratification parameter, the velocity as well as temperature decreases. At a particular point of the porous stretching sheet, the velocity decreases with the increasing suction parameter. The dimensionless temperature at a point of the sheet decreases due to suction but increases due to injection. The findings of this study reveal that stratification and suction can be used as means of cooling the boundary layer flow region.     

Melting heat transfer in an axisymmetric stagnation-point flow of the Jeffrey fluid

This investigation explores the characteristics of melting heat transfer in a boundary layer flow of the Jeffrey fluid near the stagnation point on a stretching sheet subject to an applied magnetic field. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed to ordinary differential equations by similarity transformations. Resulting nonlinear problems are solved analytically by the homotopy analysis method. It is noticed that an increase in the melting parameter decreases the dimensionless velocity and temperature, while an increase in the Deborah number increases the velocity and momentum boundary layer thickness.     

Effects of variable fluid viscosity on flow past a heated stretching sheet embedded in a porous medium in presence of heat source/sink

The boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a fluid through a porous medium towards a stretching sheet in presence of heat generation or absorption is considered in this analysis. 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. These transformations are used to convert the partial differential equations corresponding to the momentum and the energy equations into highly non-linear ordinary differential equations. Numerical solutions of these equations are obtained by shooting method. It is found that the horizontal velocity decreases with increasing temperature-dependent fluid viscosity parameter up to the crossing-over point but increases after that point and the temperature decreases in this case. With the increase of permeability parameter of the porous medium the fluid velocity decreases but the temperature increases at a particular point of the sheet. Effects of Prandtl number on the velocity boundary layer and on the thermal boundary layer are studied and plotted.