Analytical solutions of the boundary layer flow of power-law fluid over a power-law stretching surface

This article discusses analytical solutions for a nonlinear problem arising in the boundary layer flow of power-law fluid over a power-law stretching surface. Using perturbation method analytical solution is presented for linear stretching surface. This solution covers large range of shear thinning and shear thickening fluids and matches excellently with the numerical solution. Furthermore, some new exact solutions are found for particular combination of m (power-law stretching index) and n (power-law fluid index). This leads to generalize the case of linear stretching to nonlinear stretching surface. The effects of fluid index n on the boundary layer thickness and the skin friction for nonlinear stretching surface is analyzed and discussed. It is observed that the boundary layer thickness and the skin friction coefficient increase as non-linear parameter n decreases. This study gives a new dimension to obtain analytical solutions asymptotically for highly nonlinear problems which to the best of our knowledge has not been examined so far.     

Falkner-Skan boundary layer flow of a power-law fluid past a stretching wedge

The steady two-dimensional laminar boundary layer flow of a power-law fluid past a permeable stretching wedge beneath a variable free stream is studied in this paper. Using appropriate similarity variables, the governing equations are reduced to a single third order highly nonlinear ordinary differential equation in the dimensionless stream function, which is solved numerically using the Runge-Kutta scheme coupled with a conventional shooting procedure. The flow is governed by the wedge velocity parameter λ, the transpiration parameter f₀, the fluid power-law index n, and the computed wall shear stress is f″(0). It is found that dual solutions exist for each value of f₀, m and n considered in λ − f″(0) parameter space. A stability analysis for this self-similar flow reveals that for each value of f₀, m and n, lower solution branches are unstable while upper solution branches are stable. Very good agreements are found between the results of the present paper and that of Weidman et al. [28] for n = 1 (Newtonian fluid) and m = 0 (Blasius problem [31]).     

Numerical investigation on nano boundary layer equation with Navier boundary condition

In this paper, by applying rational Legendre collocation technique and relaxation method, the classical laminar boundary layer equations with the nonlinear Navier boundary conditions are investigated. The features of the flow characteristics for different values of n are discussed. Numerical approaches are used to find solutions for the cases n > 1 / 2 corresponding to the flow past a wedge and n = 1 / 2 corresponding to the flow in a convergent channel. During the comparison, the effectivity and stability of the applied methods are demonstrated. The effects of the varying slip length, index parameter, components of velocity, and tangential stress are analyzed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Similarity solutions for mixed convection boundary layer flow over a permeable horizontal flat plate

The effects of suction and injection on steady laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow over a permeable horizontal flat plate in a viscous and incompressible fluid is investigated in this paper. The similarity solutions of the governing boundary layer equations are obtained for some values of the suction and injection parameter f₀, the constant exponent n of the wall temperature as well as the mixed convection parameter λ. The resulting system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is solved numerically for both assisting and opposing flow regimes using a finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical results for the reduced skin friction coefficient, the reduced local Nusselt number, and the velocity and temperature profiles are obtained for various values of the parameters considered. Dual solutions are found to exist for the opposing flow.     

Asymptotic and numerical solutions of three‐dimensional boundary‐layer flow past a moving wedge

We consider a laminar boundary‐layer flow of a viscous and incompressible fluid past a moving wedge in which the wedge is moving either in the direction of the mainstream flow or opposite to it. The mainstream flows outside the boundary layer are approximated by a power of the distance from the leading boundary layer. The variable pressure gradient is imposed on the boundary layer so that the system admits similarity solutions. The model is described using 3‐dimensional boundary‐layer equations that contains 2 physical parameters: pressure gradient (β) and shear‐to‐strain‐rate ratio parameter (α). Two methods are used: a linear asymptotic analysis in the neighborhood of the edge of the boundary layer and the Keller‐box numerical method for the full nonlinear system. The results show that the flow field is divided into near‐field region (mainly dominated by viscous forces) and far‐field region (mainstream flows); the velocity profiles form through an interaction between 2 regions. Also, all simulations show that the subsequent dynamics involving overshoot and undershoot of the solutions for varying parameter characterizing 3‐dimensional flows. The pressure gradient (favorable) has a tendency of decreasing the boundary‐layer thickness in which the velocity profiles are benign. The wall shear stresses increase unboundedly for increasing α when the wedge is moving in the x‐direction, while the case is different when it is moving in the y‐direction. Further, both analysis show that 3‐dimensional boundary‐layer solutions exist in the range −1<α<∞. These are some interesting results linked to an important class of boundary‐layer flows.     

On the similarity solutions of magnetohydrodynamic flows of power-law fluids over a stretching sheet

A rigorous mathematical analysis is given for a magnetohydrodynamics boundary layer problem, which arises in the two-dimensional steady laminar boundary layer flow for an incompressible electrically conducting power-law fluid along a stretching flat sheet in the presence of an exterior magnetic field orthogonal to the flow. In the self-similar case, the problem is transformed into a third-order nonlinear ordinary differential equation with certain boundary conditions, which is proved to be equivalent to a singular initial value problem for an integro-differential equation of first order. With the aid of the singular initial value problem, the uniqueness and existence results for (generalized) normal solutions are established and some properties of these solutions are explored.     

Two-point and three-point boundary value problems for n th-order nonlinear differential equations

In this article, we are concerned with existence and uniqueness of solutions of four kinds of two-point boundary value problems for nth-order nonlinear differential equations by “Shooting” method, and studied existence and uniqueness of solutions of a kind of three-point boundary value problems for nth-order nonlinear differential equations by “Matching” method.     

Effect of pressure work on free convection flow along a vertical circular cone with suction and variable surface temperature

Free convection laminar flow from a vertical circular cone maintained a variable surface temperature with suction and pressure work effects has been investigated. The governing boundary layer equations are transformed into a non-dimensional form and the resulting nonlinear system of partial differential equations are reduced to local non-similarity equations. The governing non-similarity equations are then solved numerically by implicit finite difference method together with Keller box scheme. Numerical results are presented in terms of velocity and temperature profiles of the fluid as well as the local skin-friction coefficients and the local heat transfer rate for different values of Prandtl number Pr, suction parameter ξ, temperature gradient parameter n and the pressure work parameter ∈. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Perturbation analysis of a modified second grade fluid over a porous plate

A modified second grade non-Newtonian fluid model is considered. The model is a combination of power-law and second grade fluids in which the fluid may exhibit normal stresses, shear thinning or shear thickening behaviors. The flow of this fluid is considered over a porous plate. Equations of motion in dimensionless form are derived. When the power-law effects are small compared to second grade effects, a regular perturbation problem arises which is solved. The validity criterion for the solution is derived. When second grade effects are small compared to power-law effects, or when both effects are small, the problem becomes a boundary layer problem for which the solutions are also obtained. Perturbation solutions are contrasted with the numerical solutions. For the regular perturbation problem of small power-law effects, an excellent match is observed between the solutions if the validity criterion is met. For the boundary layer solution of vanishing second grade effects however, the agreement with the numerical data is not good. When both effects are considered small, the boundary layer solution leads to the same solution given in the case of a regular perturbation problem.     

特殊坐标系中特殊非牛顿流边界层方程的相似解

给出了在一个特殊坐标系中三阶流体的二维定常运动方程组．该坐标系中由无粘流体的势流确定，即以环绕任意物体的非粘性流动的流线为Ф-坐标，速度势线为ψ-坐标，构成正交曲线坐标系．结果表明，边界层方程与浸没在流体中的物体的形状无关．第一次近似假定第二梯度项与粘性项和第三梯度项相比，可以忽略不计．第二梯度项的存在，将防碍第三梯度流相似解的比例变换的导出．利用李群方法计算了边界层方程的无穷小生成元．将边界层方程组变换为常微分方程组．利用Runge-Kutta法结合打靶技术求解了该非线性微分方程组的数值解．     

Nano boundary layer equation with nonlinear Navier boundary condition

At the micro and nano scale the standard no slip boundary condition of classical fluid mechanics does not apply and must be replaced by a boundary condition that allows some degree of tangential slip. In this study the classical laminar boundary layer equations are studied using Lie symmetries with the no-slip boundary condition replaced by a nonlinear Navier boundary condition. This boundary condition contains an arbitrary index parameter, denoted by n>0, which appears in the coefficients of the ordinary differential equation to be solved. The case of a boundary layer formed in a convergent channel with a sink, which corresponds to n=1/2, is solved analytically. Another analytical but non-unique solution is found corresponding to the value n=1/3, while other values of n for n>1/2 correspond to the boundary layer formed in the flow past a wedge and are solved numerically. It is found that for fixed slip length the velocity components are reduced in magnitude as n increases, while for fixed n the velocity components are increased in magnitude as the slip length is increased.     

MHD oblique stagnation-point flow of a Newtonian fluid

The steady two-dimensional oblique stagnation-point flow of an electrically conducting Newtonian fluid in the presence of a uniform external electromagnetic field (E ₀, H ₀) is analysed, and some physical situations are examined. In particular, if E ₀ vanishes, H ₀ lies in the plane of the flow, with a direction not parallel to the boundary, and the induced magnetic field is neglected, it is proved that the oblique stagnation-point flow exists if and only if the external magnetic field is parallel to the dividing streamline. In all cases it is shown that the governing nonlinear partial differential equations admit similarity solutions, and the resulting ordinary differential problems are solved numerically. Finally, the behaviour of the flow near the boundary is analysed; this depends on the Hartmann number if H ₀ is parallel to the dividing streamline.     

Long Eddies in Sheared Flows

The characteristic feature of the wide variety of hydraulic shear flows analyzed in this study is that they all contain a critical level where some of the fluid is turned relative to the ambient flow. One example is the flow produced in a thin layer of fluid, contained between lateral boundaries, during the passage of a long eddy. The boundaries of the layer may be rigid, or flexible, or free; the fluid may be either compressible or incompressible. A further example is the flow produced when a shear layer separates from a rigid boundary producing a region of recirculating flow. The equations used in this study are those governing inviscid hydraulic shear flows. They are similar in form to the classical boundary layer equations with the viscous term omitted. The main result of the study is to show that when the hydraulic flow is steady and contained between lateral boundaries, the variation of vorticity ω(ψ) cannot be prescribed at any streamline which crosses the critical level. This variation is, in fact, determined by (1) the vorticity distribution at all streamlines which do not cross the critical level, by (2) the auxiliary conditions which must be satisfied at the boundaries of the fluid layer, and by (3) the dimensions of the region containing the turned flow. If at some instant the vorticity distribution is specified arbitrarily at all streamlines, generally the subsequent flow will be unsteady. In order to emphasize this point, a class of exact solutions describing unsteady hydraulic flows are derived. These are used to describe the flow produced by the passage of a long eddy which distorts as it is convected with the ambient flow. They are also used to describe the unsteady flow that is produced when a shear layer separates from a boundary. Examples are given both of flows in which the shear layer reattaches after separation and of flows in which the shear layer does not reattach. When the shear layer vorticity distribution has the form ωαyⁿ, where y is a distance measure across the layer, the steady flows are of Falkner-Skan type inside, and adjacent to, the separation region. The unsteady flows described in this paper are natural generalizations of these Falkner-Skan flows. One important result of the analysis is to show that if the unsteady flow inside the separation region is strongly sheared, then the boundary of the separation region moves upstream towards the point of separation, forming large transverse currents. Generally, the assumption of hydraulic flow becomes invalid in a finite time. On the other hand, if the flow inside the separation region is weakly sheared, this region is swept downstream and the flow becomes self-similar.     

Spectral Properties of Solutions for Nonlinear PDEs in the Turbulent Regime

We consider non-linear Schrödinger equations with small complex coefficient of size d \delta in front of the Laplacian. The space-variable belongs to the unit n-cube (n ￡ 3 (n \le {\bf 3} and Dirichlet boundary conditions are assumed on the cube's boundary. The equations are studied in the turbulent regime which means that d << 1 \delta \ll 1 and supremum-norms of the solutions we consider are at least of order one. We prove that space-scales of the solutions are bounded from below and from above by some finite positive degrees of d \delta and show that this result implies non-trivial restrictions on spectra of the solutions, related to the Kolmogorov-Obukhov five-thirds law (these restrictions are less specific than the 5/3-law, but they apply to a much wider class of solutions). Our approach is rather general and is applicable to many other nonlinear PDEs in the turbulent regime. Unfortunately, it does not apply to the Navier-Stokes equations.     

Necessity of a Wiener type condition for boundary regularity of quasiminimizers and nonlinear elliptic equations

We use variational methods to obtain a pointwise estimate near a boundary point for quasisubminimizers of the p-energy integral and other integral functionals in doubling metric measure spaces admitting a p-Poincaré inequality. It implies a Wiener type condition necessary for boundary regularity for p-harmonic functions on metric spaces, as well as for (quasi)minimizers of various integral functionals and solutions of nonlinear elliptic equations on R ⁿ .     

Channel flow of a Maxwell fluid with chemical reaction

This work is concerned with the two-dimensional boundary layer flow of an upper-convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid in a channel with chemical reaction. The walls of the channel are porous. Employing similarity transformations the governing non-linear partial differential equations are reduced into non-linear ordinary differential equations. The resulting ordinary differential equations are solved analytically using homotopy analysis method (HAM). Expressions for series solutions are derived. The convergence of the obtained series solutions are shown explicitly. The effects of Reynold’s number Re, Deborah number De, Schmidt number Sc and chemical reaction parameter γ on the velocity and the concentration fields are shown through graphs and discussed.     

Boundary layer flow of power-law fluids past arbitrary profiles

Two-dimensional steady-state boundary layer equations of power-lawfluids are derived using a special coordinate system which makesthe equations independent of the body shape immersed in theflow. In deriving the boundary layer equations, the method ofmatched asymptotic expansions is used. It is shown that thesimilarity solutions for power-law fluids are much the sameas those of Newtonian fluids. Similarity solutions correspondingto the case of parallel flow past a flat plate and stagnation-pointflow are presented. Finally, the shear stress is calculatedfor different geometries.     

Existence of solutions for a nonlinear system with a parameter

In this paper, the existence of solutions for a system of nonlinear equations is considered. n² nonzero real solutions are obtained by using the critical point theory. Additionally, the Dirichlet boundary value problems of even order difference equations and partial difference equations are investigated.     

Existence and uniqueness results for a nonlinear differential system

We study the existence, uniqueness and asymptotic behavior of the strong and weak solutions of a nonlinear differential system with 2N equations in a real Hilbert space H, subject to a boundary condition and initial data. This problem is a discrete version with respect to spatial variable x of some partial differential problems (with H = ℝⁿ ), which have applications in integrated circuits modelling     

New explicit approximate solution of MHD viscoelastic boundary layer flow over stretching sheet

In this paper, the study the momentum and heat transfer characteristics in an incompressible electrically conducting non‐Newtonian boundary layer flow of a viscoelastic fluid over a stretching sheet. The partial differential equations governing the flow and heat transfer characteristics are converted into highly nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations by similarity transformations. The resultant coupled highly nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved by means of, homotopy analysis method (HAM) for constructing an approximate solution of heat transfer in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) viscoelastic boundary layer flow over a stretching sheet with non‐uniform heat source. The proposed method is a strong and easy to use analytic tool for nonlinear problems and does not need small parameters in the equations. The HAM solutions contain an auxiry parameter, which provides a convenient way of controlling the convergence region of series solutions. The results obtained here reveal that the proposed method is very effective and simple for solving nonlinear evolution equations. The method is straightforward and concise, and it can also be applied to other nonlinear evolution equations in physics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.