On a new exact solution to Stokes’ first problem for Maxwell fluids

Stokes’ first problem for Maxwell fluids is re-examined using integral transform methods and several forms of the exact solution are presented. In the process, we call attention to, and correct, a recent case in the literature where this solution has been stated incorrectly. In addition, we note a number of analytical results and give several velocity profile plots. Finally, connections are drawn to other areas of research.     

Stokes＇ first problem for a viscoelastic fluid with the generalized Oldroyd-B model

The flow near a wall suddenly set in motion for a viscoelastic fluid with the generalized Oldroyd-B model is studied. The fractional calculus approach is used in the constitutive relationship of fluid model. Exact analytical solutions of velocity and stress are obtained by using the discrete Laplace transform of the sequential fractional derivative and the Fox H-function. The obtained results indicate that some well known solutions for the Newtonian fluid, the generalized second grade fluid as well as the ordinary Oldroyd-B fluid, as limiting cases, are included in our solutions. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10272067), the Doctoral Program Foundation of the Education Ministry of China (20030422046), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Y2006A14) and the Research Foundation of Shandong University at Weihai. The English text was polished by Keren Wang.     

Stokes’ first problem for a second grade fluid in a porous half-space with heated boundary

Based on a modified Darcy's law, Stokes’ first problem was investigated for a second grade fluid in a porous half-space with a heated flat plate. Exact solutions of the velocity and temperature fields were obtained using Fourier sine transforms. In contrast to the classical Stokes’ first problem, there is a steady-state solution for the second grade fluid in the porous half-space, which is a damping exponential function with respect to the distance from the flat plate. The well-known solutions for Newtonian fluids in non-porous or porous half-space appear in limiting cases of our solutions.     

Remarks on the links between low‐order DG methods and some finite‐difference schemes for the Stokes problem

In this paper we demonstrate that some well‐known finite‐difference schemes can be interpreted within the framework of the local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) methods using the low‐order piecewise solenoidal discrete spaces introduced in (SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 1990; 27 (6): 1466–1485). In particular, it appears that it is possible to derive the well‐known MAC scheme using a first‐order Nédélec approximation on rectangular cells. It has been recently interpreted within the framework of the Raviart–Thomas approximation by Kanschat (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 2007; published online). The two approximations are algebraically equivalent to the MAC scheme, however, they have to be applied on grids that are staggered on a distance h/2 in each direction. This paper also demonstrates that both discretizations allow for the construction of a divergence‐free basis, which yields a linear system with a ‘biharmonic’ conditioning. Both this paper and Kanschat (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 2007; published online) demonstrate that the LDG framework can be used to generalize some popular finite‐difference schemes to grids that are not parallel to the coordinate axes or that are unstructured. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.