Non-isothermal spherical Couette flow of Oldroyd-B fluid

The present paper is concerned with non-isothermal spherical Couette flow of Oldroyd-B fluid in the annular region between two concentric spheres. The inner sphere rotates with a constant angular velocity while the outer sphere is kept at rest. The viscoelasticity of the fluid is assumed to dominate the inertia such that the latter can be neglected in the momentum and energy equations. An approximate analytical solution is obtained through the expansion of the dynamical variable fields in power series of Nahme number. Non-homogeneous, harmonic for axial- velocity and temperature equations and biharmonic for stream function equations, have been solved up to second order approximation. In comparison of the present work with isothermal case; [1,2], two additional terms; a first order velocity and a second order stream function are stem as a result of the interaction between the fluid viscoelasticity and temperature profile. These contributions prove to be the most important results for rheology in this work.     

Exact solutions for two dimensional flows of couple stress fluids

Exact solutions are derived for the class of two dimensional couple stress flows. This class consists of flows for which the vorticity distribution is proportional to the stream function perturbed by a uniform stream. The solutions are obtained by applying the so-called inverse method which makes certain hypothesis a priori on the form of the velocity field and pressure without making any on the boundaries of the domain occupied by the fluid. Exact solutions are obtained for both steady and unsteady cases.     

Flow of a Maxwell fluid between two side walls induced by a constantly accelerating plate

The unsteady flow of a Maxwell fluid induced by a constantly accelerating plate between two side walls perpendicular to the plate is studied. Exact solutions for the velocity field are established by means of the Fourier sine transforms. The adequate tangential stresses are also determined. The similar solutions for a Newtonian fluid are obtained as limiting cases of our solutions. In the absence of the side walls, the similar solutions for the unsteady flow over an infinite flat plate are recovered. Finally, for comparison, the velocity field in the middle of the channel and the shear stresses at the bottom wall and on the side walls are plotted for different values of the material constants.      

Flow of a generalized Maxwell fluid induced by a constantly accelerating plate between two side walls

The unsteady flow of a viscoelastic fluid with the fractional Maxwell model, induced by a constantly accelerating plate between two side walls perpendicular to the plate, is investigated by means of the integral transforms. Exact solutions for the velocity field are presented under integral and series forms in terms of the derivatives of generalized Mittag–Leffler functions. The corresponding solutions for Maxwell fluids are obtained as limiting cases for β → 1. In the absence of the side walls, all solutions that have been determined reduce to those corresponding to the motion over an infinite plate.      

The Rayleigh–Stokes problem for an edge in a generalized Oldroyd-B fluid

The velocity field corresponding to the Rayleigh–Stokes problem for an edge, in an incompressible generalized Oldroyd-B fluid has been established by means of the double Fourier sine and Laplace transforms. The fractional calculus approach is used in the constitutive relationship of the fluid model. The obtained solution, written in terms of the generalized G-functions, is presented as a sum of the Newtonian solution and the corresponding non-Newtonian contribution. The solution for generalized Maxwell fluids, as well as those for ordinary Maxwell and Oldroyd-B fluids, performing the same motion, is obtained as a limiting case of the present solution. This solution can be also specialized to give the similar solution for generalized second grade fluids. However, for simplicity, a new and simpler exact solution is established for these fluids. For β → 1, this last solution reduces to a previous solution obtained by a different technique.      

Radial solutions with a vortex to an asymptotically linear elliptic equation

In this paper, we study a two-dimensional nonlinear elliptic equation:

Hardy-Littlewood system and representations of integers by an invariant polynomial

Let f be an integral homogeneous polynomial of degree d, and let be the level set for each . For a compact subset in ), set

A note on the flow induced by a constantly accelerating plate in an Oldroyd-B fluid

The velocity field and the adequate tangential stress that is induced by the flow due to a constantly accelerating plate in an Oldroyd-B fluid, are determined by means of Fourier sine transforms. The solutions corresponding to a Maxwell, Second grade and Navier–Stokes fluid appear as limiting cases of the solutions obtained here. However, in marked contrast to the solution for a Navier–Stokes fluid, in the case of an Oldroyd-B fluid oscillations are set up which decay exponentially with time.     

Non-variational elliptic systems in dimension two: a priori bounds and existence of positive solutions

We establish a priori bounds for positive solutions of semilinear elliptic systems of the form

Distance sets corresponding to convex bodies

Suppose that is a 0-symmetric convex body which denes the usual norm

Effects of suction/blowing on the lower branch modes of the incompressible boundary layer flow due to a rotating-disk

In this study a theoretical approach is pursued to investigate the effects of suction and blowing on the structure of the lower branch neutral stability modes of three-dimensional small disturbances imposed on the incompressible von Karman’s boundary layer flow induced by a rotating-disk. Particular interest is placed upon the short-wavelength, non-linear and nonstationary crossflow vortex modes developing within the presence of suction/blowing at sufficiently high Reynolds numbers with reasonably small scaled frequencies. Following closely the asymptotic framework introduced in [1], the role of suction on the non-linear disturbances of the lower branch described first in [2] for the stationary modes only, is extended in order to obtain an understanding of the behavior of non-stationary perturbations. The analysis using the rational asymptotic technique based on the triple-deck theory enables us to derive initially an eigenrelation which describes the evolution of linear modes. The asymptotic linear modes calculated at high Reynolds number limit are found to be destabilizing as far as the non-parallelism accounted by the approach is concerned, and they compare fairly well with the numerical results generated directly by solving the linearized system with the usual parallel flow approximation. An amplitude equation is derived next to account for the effects of non-linearity. Even though the form of this equation is the same as that of found in [2] for no suction, it is under the strong influence of suction and blowing. This amplitude equation is shown to be adjusted by a balance between viscous and Coriolis forces, and it describes the evolution of not only the stationary but also the non-stationary modes for both suction and injection applied at the disk surface. A close investigation of the amplitude equation shows that the non-linearity is highly destabilizing for both positive and negative frequency waves, though finite amplitude growth of a disturbance having positive frequency close to the neutral location is more effective at destabilization of the flow under consideration. Finally, a smaller initial amplitude of a disturbance is found to be sufficient for the non-linear amplification of the modes in the case of suction, whereas a larger amplitude is required if injection is active on the surface of the disk.     

Estimates for Littlewood-Paley Functions and Extrapolation

We prove certain L ^p -estimates for Littlewood-Paley functions arising from rough kernels. The estimates are useful for extrapolation to prove L ^p -boundedness of the Littlewood-Paley functions under a sharp kernel condition.      

Exact solutions of accelerated flows for a Burgers’ fluid II. The cases γ = λ2/4 and γ > λ2/4

The purpose of this study is to provide the exact analytic solutions of accelerated flows for a Burgers’ fluid when the relaxation times satisfy the conditions γ = λ²/4 and γ > λ²/4. The velocity field and the adequate tangential stress that is induced by the flow due to constantly accelerating plate and flow due to variable accelerating plate are determined by means of Laplace transform. All the solutions that have been obtained are presented in the form of simple or multiple integrals in terms of Bessel functions. A comparison between Burgers’ and Newtonian fluids for the velocity and the shear stress is also made through several graphs.     

The large-time behavior of solutions of the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem for Hamilton-Jacobi equations

We investigate the large-time behavior of viscosity solutions of the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem (CD) for Hamilton-Jacobi equations on bounded domains. We establish general convergence results for viscosity solutions of (CD) by using the Aubry-Mather theory.      

Comparison theorem and uniqueness of positive solutions for sublinear elliptic equations

In semilinear elliptic equations, we prove that the necessary and sufficient condition for the comparison theorem of positive solutions to be valid is that the nonlinear term is sublinear. Our theorem needs neither any regularity of the nonlinear term nor the smoothness of the boundary. Applying this theorem, we prove the uniqueness of positive solutions for the Dirichlet problem. Received: 9 April 2008     

Self-similar solutions of the magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer system for a non-dilatable fluid

A rigorous mathematical analysis is given for a magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer problem, which arises in the study of self-similar solutions of the two-dimensional steady laminar boundary layer flow for an incompressible electrically conducting non-dilatable fluid (i.e., a Newtonian fluid or a pseudo-plastic one) along an isolated surface in the presence of an exterior magnetic field orthogonal to the flow. For this problem, only a normal solution has the physical meaning. The uniqueness, existence, and nonexistence results for normal solutions are established. Also the asymptotic behavior of the normal solution at the infinity is displayed. Received: January 10, 2007; revised: September 6, 2007, April 21, 2008     

Plastic flow in very low temperature regime within annular micropores

The rate of deformation for glassy (amorphous) matter confined in microscopic domain at very low temperature regime was investigated using a rate-state-dependent model considering the shear thinning behavior which means, once material being subjected to high shear rates, the viscosity diminishes with increasing shear rate. The preliminary results show that there might be the enhanced rate of deformation and (shear) yield stress due to the almost vanishing viscosity in micropores subjected to some surface conditions: The relatively larger roughness (compared to the macroscopic domain) inside micropores and the slip. As the pore size decreases, the surface-to-volume ratio increases and therefore, surface roughness will greatly affect the (plastic) flow in micropores. By using the boundary perturbation method, we obtained a class of microscopic fields for the rate of deformation and yield stress at low temperature regime with the presumed small wavy roughness distributed along the walls of an annular micropore.     

On a conjecture of Schmutz

In this work we discuss Schmutz’s conjecture that in dimension 2 to 8 the distinct norms that occur in the lattices with the best known sphere packings are strictly greater than those in any other lattice of the same covolume. We see that the ternary conjecture is not true. However, it seems that there is but one exception: one lattice, where for one length the conjecture fails. Received: 11 February 2008, Revised: 20 May 2008     

On an obstacle problem for degenerate elliptic operators involving the critical Sobolev exponent

We establish the existence of a solution to the variational inequality (the obstacle problem) (1.1) which involves the critical Sobolev exponent. This result is also extended to an obstacle problem with a lower order perturbation. Dedicated to Professor F. Browder on the occasion of his 80-th birthday