Alexandria Engineering Journal (2015) xxx, xxx–xxx

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Alexandria Engineering Journal

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Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional

power law fluids using the method of satisfaction
of asymptotic boundary conditions
a,* b
Nita Jain , M.G. Timol

a
Department of Humanities & Sciences, Thakur College of Engineering and Technology, Mumbai 101, Maharashtra, India
b
Department of Mathematics, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat 7, Gujarat, India

Received 13 August 2014; revised 16 March 2015; accepted 5 April 2015

KEYWORDS Abstract The work presented in this paper is focused on deductive group-theoretic transforma-
Deductive group-theoretic tions to develop the similarity solution of steady, laminar, incompressible quasi three dimensional
method; boundary layer flow governing power law fluid. The application of one-parameter group reduces
Quasi three dimensional the number of independent variables to one and consequently the system of governing, highly
flows; non-linear partial differential equations reduces to a self similar, non-linear ordinary differential
Power-law fluids; equation with appropriate auxiliary conditions. The numerical solution for a power law fluid
MSABC; considered for small cross flow is obtained systematically using MSABC in dimensionless form.
Skin friction ª 2015 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an
open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction layer characteristics. As a result, a great deal of experimental

and theoretic research on three dimensional flows has been
The boundary layer flow occurs over various aerodynamic carried on in recent years. But still a need exists for theoretic
configurations such as wings, missiles, fuselage forms or chan- analyses which will lead to the predictions of boundary layer
nel flows. For the flow over wings and channels, the boundary behavior.
layer generally develops along a line on the surface (e.g. lead- Theoretical research has been restricted because of the com-
ing edge). The development of boundary layer is useful for effi- plex nature of the equations describing the flow, while in a
cient design procedures of both internal turbo machine practical problems, the boundary layer is turbulent. Some suc-
components and external surface components. The gross cess, however, has been achieved in the analysis of the three
allowances for the boundary layer were possible to make, dimensional laminar equations. There is always a need to
using empirical relations along with results predicted from search for exact solutions of the laminar, incompressible,
two dimensional boundary layer theory. But this method does boundary layer equations for special types of main stream
not seem much promising for three dimensional boundary flows. From a physical point of view, these boundary layer
equations have the capacity to admit a large number of invari-
* Corresponding author. ant solutions which are known as similarity solutions. These
E-mail address: nita.jain109@gmail.com (N. Jain). invariant solutions are meant to reduce nonlinear partial dif-
Peer review under responsibility of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria ferential equations of the boundary layer to a system of ordi-
University. nary differential equations.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
1110-0168 ª 2015 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
2 N. Jain, M.G. Timol
Nomenclature
u, v, w velocity component in the boundary layer along x,
y, z-axis respectively
syx ; syz the two non-vanishing components of the shear
tensor
x, y Cartesian coordinates
m, n parameters in the mathematical model of a power-
law fluid
U, W velocity component in the main flow along x, z-
axis respectively
q density of the fluid
L; U0 characteristic length and velocity respectively
For any non-Newtonian fluid, two entities are important
viz. the mathematical structure of the shearing stress and the
rate of shear. Such a mathematical formulation is indeed a
difficult task. Since great diversity is found in the physical
structure of non-Newtonian fluids, it is difficult to recommend
a single constitutive equation to describe them. When shear
stress is an arbitrary function of the velocity gradient, the
non-Newtonian fluid model represents Visco-Inelastic
behavior which is observed in several fluids including
Newtonian fluids, Prandtl fluids, Prandtl–Eyring fluids,
Power-law fluids, Eyring fluids, Sisko fluids, Sutterby
fluids, Ellis fluids, Williamson fluids, Reiner–Philippoff fluids,
Powell Eyring fluids. To investigate the non-Newtonian
effects, similarity solutions play an important role because
being exact solutions, they serve as a reference to check
approximate solutions.
Hansen and Herzig [1–3] has developed three dimensional
boundary layer equations for the flow past flat surface for
Cartesian, Curvilinear and Polar coordinate system and
derived similarity solution for all three cases. But all these past
cases were limited to Newtonian fluids only. Schowalter [4] was
probably the first to introduced similarity solution for three
dimensional non-Newtonian Power law fluids using separation
of variable method. Na and Hansen [5] have obtained similar-
ity solution for three dimensional boundary layer equations for
non-Newtonian Power law fluids by linear and spiral group of
transformations. They have also obtained similarity solution
for small cross flow geometry. Timol and Kalthia [6] have car-
ried out similarity analysis of three dimensional boundary
layer equations of non-Newtonian fluids and integrated simi-
larity equations for Reiner Philippoff fluids. Pakdemirli [7,8]
and his co-workers have worked out similarity solutions for
three dimensional boundary layer flow of non-Newtonian
Power law fluids using scaling and spiral group of transforma-
tions. However, in all these cases, similarity equations were
highly nonlinear coupled differential equations and remain
numerically unsolved.
Nowadays, many techniques are available for similarity
analysis. Among them, the similarity methods which invoke
the invariance under the group of transformations are known
as group theoretic methods. These methods are more recent
and are mathematically elegant; hence they are widely used
in different fields. The group theoretic methods involve mainly
two different types of groups of transformations, namely,
Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
Re Reynolds number
w arbitrary mathematical function
G; G; g arbitrary constants
P; €; £ arbitrary constants
N1 . . . N4 arbitrary constants
a; /11 . . . /81 arbitrary constants
b; b11 . . . b81 arbitrary constants
g independent variable in transformed ordinary
differential equation
F1 . . . F4 dependent variables in transformed ordinary
differential equation
assumed group of transformations and deductive group of
transformations. The linear group transformations, scaling
group transformations, spiral group transformations are the
assumed group of transformations and are mainly due to
Birkhoff [9] and Morgan [10] where as the deductive group
of transformations can be further classified into two groups:
finite group of transformations Moran and Gaggioli [11] and
infinitesimal group of transformation Bluman and Cole [12],
Bluman and Kumai [13].
The main drawback of similarity methods based on the
assumed group of transformation at the outset of the analysis
is that, the resulting similarity solutions are restrictive and may
sometimes lead to wrong conclusion that the similarity trans-
formations does not exist. On the other hand, the similarity
methods based on general group of transformation are more
systematic and lead to a number of similarity solutions. Out
of these, the deductive group theoretic method provides a pow-
erful tool because it is not based on linear operators, superpo-
sition, or any other aspect of linear solution techniques.
Therefore, this method can successfully be applied to nonlinear
differential models.
Recently, deductive group of transformation has been suc-
cessfully applied to various non-linear two dimensional flow
problems by Abd-el-Malek et al. [14], Parmar and Timol
[15], Adnan et al. [16] and Darji and Timol [17]. The objective
of present investigation was to apply the deductive group
method based on general group of transformation to derive
similarity solutions for steady, quasi three dimensional incom-
pressible laminar boundary layer flows of non-Newtonian
Power law fluid. We treat Ostwald-de model of Power law flu-
ids as it is most widely used model to exhibit non-Newtonian
behavior in fluids and to predict shear thinning and shear
thickening behavior.
Solution of the final similarity equations in general, requires
the application of numerical techniques. Little work has been
done on solving these equations. Thus we have made an
attempt to find the numerical solution of nonlinear coupled
ordinary differential equations.
2. Governing equations
The governing differential equations for the boundary layer
flow of the generalized non-Newtonian fluid are given as [5]
Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids 3

@u0 @v0 " 2  2 #n1

2
Continuity þ ¼0 ð1Þ @2w @w @2w
@x0 @y0 syx ¼ þ ð10Þ
@y2 @y @y2
@u 0
@u 1 0 @s0y0 x0 @U0
Momentum u0 þ v0 0 ¼ þ U0 ð2Þ "
@x0 @y q @y0 @x0 2  2 #n1
2
@2w @w @w
syz ¼ þ ð11Þ
@w0 @w0 1 @s0y0 z0 @w0 @y2 @y @y
0
u 0
þ v0 0 ¼ 0
þ U0 0 ð3Þ
@x @y q @y @x Eqs. (7)–(11) represent a system of non-linear partial
"  differential equations, the solution of which is quite difficult
2  0 2 #n1
2
@u0 @w @u0 to obtain. One major simplification can be achieved using
Shear stress s0y0 x0 ¼ m þ ð4Þ similarity transformations where the system of non-linear
@y0 @y0 @y0
partial differential equations is reduced to a system of ordinary
"   0 2 #n1 differential equations.
2 2
@u0 @w @w0
s0y0 z0 ¼ m 0
þ 0
ð5Þ
@y @y @y0 4. Methodology and solution of the problem

With the boundary conditions:

We now seek some sort of transformation namely, similarity
u0 ¼ v0 ¼ w0 ¼ 0; at y0 ¼ 0 ð6:aÞ
transformation which transforms the partial differential Eqs.
(7) and (8) into the ordinary differential equations along with
u0 ¼ U0 ðx0 Þ; w0 ¼ W0 ðx0 Þ at y0 ! 1 ð6:bÞ
appropriate auxiliary conditions. To search this transforma-
where ands0y0 x0 s0y0 z0
are shearing stresses to Y-direction and act- tion we applied one parameter general deductive group of
ing along X and Z direction respectively. transformation.
According to Timol and Timol [18], we have also consid-
ered the flow past a semi infinite flat plate placed in the direc- 4.1. The group systematic formulation
tion of flow. The plate is in X–Z direction and is placed
between 0 6 x < 1 and 1 < z < 1 and free stream is in Introducing the group theoretic method
the X-direction. The considered flow problem is quasi-three
dimensional in nature since the velocity components are inde- G : Pe ð@Þ ¼ €@ ðeÞ@ þ £@ ðeÞ ð12Þ
pendent of the z-coordinates and the stream lines for such where @ stands for x, y, w, w, syx ; syz , U, W.
flows form a system of ‘translates’. It is hoped that by assum- Here €0 s and £0 s are real-valued and are at least differen-
ing independence of flow quantities in one direction, more tiable in the real argument e.
quantitative information may be obtained on the characteris-
tics of three dimensional boundary layer flows. 4.2. The invariance analysis

3. Formulation of the problem

Eqs. (7)–(11) are invariantly transformed for some functions
Ni ðeÞ whenever
Now considering the dimensionless quantities in Eqs. (1)–(6):
x0 u0 w0 U0 W0 @w @ 2 w @w @ 2 w @syx dU
x¼ u¼ w¼ U¼ W¼   U
L U0 U0 U0 U0 @y @x@y @x @y2 @y dx
 2 2 
@w @ w @w @ w @syx dU
y0 v0 qLn U2n ¼ N 1 ðeÞ   U ð13Þ
y ¼ Rnþ1
1
v ¼ Rnþ1
1
Re ¼ 0 @y @x@y @x @y2 @y dx
e e
L U0 l
@w @w @w @w @syz dW
1 1   U
s0y0 x0 Renþ1 s0y0 z0 Rnþ1
e @y @x @x @y @y dx
syx ¼ syz ¼  
mqU20 mqU20 @w @w @w @w @syz dW
¼ N 2 ðeÞ   U ð14Þ
@y @x @x @y @y dx
and introducing the stream function w as u ¼ @w
@y
and v ¼  @w
@x
,
continuity equation gets satisfied automatically. syx ¼ N3 ðeÞsyx and syz ¼ N4 ðeÞsyz ð15Þ
2 2
@w @ w @w @ w @syx dU Under the one parameter group transformation (12) and
  U ¼0 ð7Þ
@y @x@y @x @y2 @y dx applying chain rule for transforming the derivatives, the above
Eqs. (13)–(15) become
@w @w @w @w @syz dW  w   2  w  
  U ¼0 ð8Þ € @w €w @ w € @w €w @ 2 w
@y @x @x @y @y dx 
y x y x
€ @y € € @x@y € @x €y2 @y2
subject to the boundary conditions:  syx   U
@w @w € @syx U U € dU
¼ ¼ w ¼ 0 at y ¼ 0 ð9:aÞ   ð€ U þ £ Þ
@y @x €y @y € x dx
 
@w @ 2 w @w @ 2 w @syx dU
@w ¼ N 1 ðeÞ    U ð16Þ
¼ UðxÞ; w ¼ WðxÞ at y ! 1 ð9:bÞ @y @x@y @x @y2 @y dx
@y

Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
4 N. Jain, M.G. Timol
 w    w    syz 
€ @w €w @w € @w €w @w € @syz 4.3. The complete set of absolute invariants
 
€ y @y € x @x € x @x € y @y € y @y
 W
€ dW Now we want to develop a complete set of absolute invariants
 ð€U U þ £U Þ x so that the original problem (7)–(11) will transformed into sim-
€ dx
  ilarity equations via group theoretic method. We have applied
@w @w @w @w @syz dW
¼ N 2 ðeÞ   U ð17Þ HAMAD [19] formulations for PDEs of 2-independent
@y @x @x @y @y dx
variables.
Considering x1 ¼ x, x2 ¼ y, y1 ¼ w , y2 ¼ w, y3 ¼ syx ,
" 2  w 2 #n1
2  w 2 i
€w @ 2 w € @w € @ w y4 ¼ syz , y5 ¼ U, y6 ¼ W and also /i1 ¼ @€ 
@e e¼e0
þ 
i
2
€y @y2 € y @y 2
€y @y2 and bi1 ¼ @£ ; i ¼ 1 to 8;where e0 denotes the value of e
@e 
e¼e0
" 2  2 #n1
@2w @w
2
@2w which yield the identity element of the group. The generator
¼ N 3 ðeÞ þ ð18Þ for eliminating the independent variable is given by
@y2 @y @y2
@g @g
" X ¼ ð/11 x1 þ b11 Þ þ ð/21 x2 þ b21 Þ
w 2  w
2 2 #n1
2  w @x1 @x2
€ @ w € @w € @w
þ y
@g @g
€
2
y @y2 € @y € y @y þ ð/31 y1 þ b31 Þ þ ð/41 y2 þ b41 Þ
@y1 @y21
" 2  2 #n1
@2w @w
2
@w @g @g
¼ N 4 ðeÞ þ ð19Þ þ ð/51 y3 þ b51 Þ þ ð/61 y4 þ b61 Þ
@y2 @y @y @y3 @y4
@g @g
þ ð/71 y5 þ b71 Þ þ ð/81 y6 þ b81 Þ ð26Þ
Eqs. (16)–(19) are transformed invariantly if @y5 @y6
2 2
€w €syx €U £U €U dU Hence the characteristic equation becomes
¼ y ¼ y ¼ N1 ðeÞ and R1 ¼ 0 where R1 ¼
€x€ y2 € € € x dx
dx dy dw dw dsyx dsyz
ð20Þ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼
/11 x þ b11 /21 y /31 w þ b31 /41 w 0 0
€w €w €syz €U €W dU dW
¼ y ¼ x ¼ N2 ðeÞ and R2 ¼ 0 where ¼ ¼ ð27Þ
€ x€ y € € /71 U /81 W
£U €W dW On integrating the characteristic Eq. (27) using variable
R2 ¼ x ð21Þ
€ dx separable method, we obtain absolute invariants for indepen-
Again the invariance of boundary conditions gives: dent and dependent variables as follows:
At y ¼ 0; £ y ¼ £w ¼ 0 ð22:aÞ /21 b11
g ¼ yp/11 where p ¼ x þ b and b ¼
/11
€w
At y ¼ 1; £U ¼ £w ¼ £W ¼ 0 and ¼ €U ; €w /31 b31 /41
€y w ¼ p/11 F1 ðgÞ  w ¼ p/11 F2 ðgÞ ð28Þ
¼ €W ð22:bÞ /31
/71 /81
On solving these (20)–(22), we obtained: syx ¼ syx syz ¼ syz U ¼ p/11 F3 ðgÞ W ¼ p/11 F4 ðgÞ
3 2
€ x ¼ €y ; €w ¼ €y ; €w ¼ €U ¼ €W ¼ € y ; €syx ¼ €syz Substituting (28) in Eqs. (7), (8) and (10)
¼1 ð23Þ  /31 /21  /31 /21 /  / /21 00

31 21 0
p /11 F10 p /11 1 F1  gF1
/11 /11
£ y ¼ £w ¼ £U ¼ £W ¼ £syx ¼ £syz ¼ 0 ð24Þ   
/31
1 / 31 / 21
/31 2/21 /21
 p/11 F1  gF10 p /11 F100  p/11 s0yx
Finally, we get the one-parameter group G, which invari- /11 /11
antly transforms the differential equations and the auxiliary 2/71 /71
 p /11 1 F3 F03 ¼ 0 ð29Þ
conditions (7)–(11) as /11
3
x ¼ €y ðeÞx þ £ x ðeÞ  /31 /21  /41 / /21 0

41
p /11 F10 p/11 1 F2  gF2
2
y ¼ € y ðeÞy w ¼ €y ðeÞw þ £w ðeÞ /11 /11
  
/31 / 31 / 21
/41 /21 /21
w ¼ € y ðeÞw  p/11 1 F1  gF10 p /11 F20  p/11 s0yz
/11 /11
G: syx ¼ syx ð25Þ /71 þ/81 /81
 p /11 1 F3 F04 ¼ 0 ð30Þ
/11
syz ¼ syz
 2  /41 /21 2 n1
U ¼ € y ðeÞU /31 2/21 2 /31 2/21
syx ¼ p /11
F100 þ p /11 F20 p /11 F100 ð31Þ
W ¼ € y ðeÞW

Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids 5
 2  /41 /21 2 n1
/31 2/21 2 /41 /21 5. Numerical solution for small cross section
syz ¼ p /11
F100 þ p /11 F20 p /11 F20 ð32Þ

For Eqs. (29)–(32) are reduced to a system of ordinary dif- Following Hansen and Na [5], here we have considered the
ferential equations, it is necessary that the coefficients should small cross flow to obtain numerical solution of (38)–(42)
be constants or functions of g only. Thus @w @u
i:e: 
@y @y
2/31  2/21 /21 2/71
1¼ ¼ 1 ð33Þ In this case shear stress (40) and (41) becomes
/11 /11 /11

/31  /21 þ /41 /21 /71 þ /81 syx ¼ F00n

1 and syz ¼ F00n1
1 F20 ð43Þ
1¼ ¼ 1 ð34Þ
/11 /11 /11 On substituting (43) in (38) and (39) we derived the system
   of non-linear ordinary differential equations:
2/31  4/21 n1 2/31  2/21
þ ¼0 1
/11 2 /11 F000
1 ¼ ðF002 00
1  2F1 F1  1Þ ð44Þ
   3nF00n1
1
2/41  2/21 n  1 2/31  2/21
¼ ð35Þ
/11 2 /11 1
F200 ¼ ðF10 F2  2F1 F20  1  3ðn  1ÞF00n2
1 F000 0
1 F2 Þ ð45Þ
Solutions of (33)–(35) then gives 3F00n1
1

/21 1 /31 2 /41 /71 /81 1 The numerical method applied to solve Eqs. (44) and (45)
¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ ð36Þ with the boundary condition (42) is the Adams–Moulton pro-
/11 3 /11 3 /11 /11 /11 3
cedure along with shooting method due to Nachtsheim and
Substituting (36) into (28) we derive similarity variables as
Swigert [21], based on the least square convergence criterion.
follows:
The asymptotic boundary conditions are satisfied at the edge
1 b11 of the boundary layer by adjusting the initial conditions so that
g ¼ yðx þ bÞ3 where b ¼
/11 the mean square error between the computed variables and
asymptotic values is minimized. The method can be applicable
2 b31 1 to study the relationship of the properties of solution with the
w ¼ ðx þ bÞ3 F1 ðgÞ  w ¼ ðx þ bÞ3 F2 ðgÞ ð37Þ
/31 parameter variation.
The method is briefly described below:
1 1
syx ¼ syx syz ¼ syz U ¼ ðx þ bÞ3 F3 ðgÞ W ¼ ðx þ bÞ3 F4 ðgÞ Since there are two asymptotic boundary conditions to
satisfy, two additional initial conditions at the wall have to
It should be noted that for the existence of similarity solu- be adjusted. So the considered boundary value problem is
tions, the considered boundary conditions should be constant. equivalent to the problem of finding the values of F100 ð0Þ &
This is possible only when the main flow streamlines are F20 ð0Þ for which the boundary condition at the edge of
straight lines. Thus, without loss of generality we take the boundary layer is satisfied. It means that the solution of
F3 ðgÞ ¼ F4 ðgÞ ¼ 1 . the following simultaneous non-linear Eqs. (46) and (47) is
to be determined.
4.4. Reduction to an ordinary differential equation  
F01edge F100 ð0Þ; F20 ð0Þ ¼ 1 ð46Þ

The derived similarity transformations (37) for independent  

F2edge F100 ð0Þ; F20 ð0Þ ¼ 1 ð47Þ
and dependent variables are applied to Eqs. (7)–(11) which

results into the following non-linear coupled ordinary differen- where F01edge ¼ F10 ðgedge Þ and F2edge ¼ F2 gedge . Denoting
tial equations: F100 ð0Þ ¼ x and F20 ð0Þ ¼ z and following the asymptotic bound-
dsyx ary conditions method,
F002 00
1  2F1 F1  1 ¼ 3 ð38Þ 1
dg F000 ðF002 00
1 ¼ 1  2F1 F1  1Þ ð48Þ
3nF00n1
1
dsyz
F10 F2  2F1 F20  1 ¼ 3 ð39Þ
dg 1
F200 ¼ ðF10 F2  2F1 F20  1  3ðn  1ÞF00n2
1 F000 0
1 F2 Þ ð49Þ
3F00n1

n1 1
syx ¼ F002
1 þ F2
02 2
F100 ð40Þ
F1 ð0Þ ¼ 0; F10 ð0Þ ¼ 0; F100 ð0Þ ¼ x ð50:aÞ

n1
syz ¼ F002 þ F2 02 2
F20 ð41Þ
1 F2 ð0Þ ¼ 0; F20 ð0Þ ¼ z ð50:bÞ
F1 ð0Þ ¼ 0; F10 ð0Þ ¼ 0; F2 ð0Þ ¼ 0 ð42:aÞ Following the principal of least squares, Dx and Dy must be
found from the solution of the following matrix equation:
F10 ð1Þ ¼ 1; F2 ð1Þ ¼ 1 ð42:bÞ     
A11 A12 Dx B1
¼ ð51Þ
These equations are exactly similar to those of Patel and A21 A22 Dz B2
Timol [20].
where

Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
6 N. Jain, M.G. Timol

A11 ¼ F021x þ F22x þ F002 02

1x þ F2x along with initial conditions
0 0 00
A12 ¼ A21 ¼ F1x F1z þ F2x F2z þ F1x F1z00 þ F02x F02z F1x ð0Þ ¼ 0; F01x ð0Þ ¼ 0; F1x
00
ð0Þ ¼ 1 ð55:aÞ
A22 ¼ F021z þ F22z þ F002 02
1z þ F2z
B1 ¼ F1 F1x  F1x þ F2 F2x  F2x þ F100 F1x
0 0 0 00
þ F20 F02x F2x ð0Þ ¼ 0; F02x ð0Þ ¼ 0 ð55:bÞ
B2 ¼ F10 F01z  F01z þ F2 F2z  F2z þ F100 F1z00 þ F20 F02z The perturbation differential equations for the z derivatives
are
The error E between the asymptotic conditions and the
computed values at g ¼ gstop is given by 1 0 0

F000
1z ¼ 00n1
2F1 F1z  2F1z F100  2F1 F1z00  3nðn  1ÞF00n2
1 F1z00 F000
1
3nF1
E ¼ F02 2 002 02
1 þ F2 þ F1 þ F2 ð52Þ
ð56Þ
The partial derivatives with respect to x and z that appear
in Eq. (51) are obtained by integrating the appropriate pertur- 1 0

F2z00 ¼ 00n1
F1z F2 þ F10 F2z  2F1z F20  2F1 F02z
bation differential equations. The perturbation differential 3F1
equations for the x derivatives are as follows ðn  1Þ 00n2 000 0
 ðF1 F1 F2z þ F00n2 F000 0
1z F2
1 0 0
F00n1 1
F000
1x ¼ 2F1 F1x  2F1x F100  2F1 F1x
00
 3nðn  1ÞF00n2
1
00 000
F1x F1 1
3nF100n1 þ ðn  2ÞF00n3 F1z00 F000 0 00n2 00 00
1 1 F2 þ F1 F1z F2 Þ ð57Þ
ð53Þ
along with initial conditions
00 1 0
F1z ð0Þ ¼ 0; F01z ð0Þ ¼ 0; F1z00 ð0Þ ¼ 0 ð58:aÞ
F2x ¼ F1x F2 þ F10 F2x  2F1x F20  2F1 F02x
3F00n1
1
ðn  1Þ 00n2 000 0 F2z ð0Þ ¼ 0; F02z ð0Þ ¼ 1 ð58:bÞ
 ðF1 F1 F2x þ F100n2 F000 0
1x F2
F00n1
1 Assuming x = z = 0, the three system of Eqs. (48), (49),
þ ðn  2ÞF00n3 00 000 0
F1x F1 F2 þ F00n2 00
F1x F200 Þ ð54Þ (53), (54), (56) and (57) along with their boundary conditions
1 1
(50), (55), (58) respectively are integrated using one correction

Figure 1 Graph of F01 for shear thinning & shear thickening flows.

Figure 2 Graph of F2 for shear thinning & shear thickening flows.

Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids
Figure 3 Variation in Cf for different Reynold number.
per step. The step size is taken as 2 * 104. Numerical integra-
tion is carried to a specific value of g. The correction Dx and Dz
is determined from Eq. (51). The process is repeated until the
relative change in correction is less than a small pre-assigned
value. This value is taken as 108. When this is achieved, the
value of E is computed using Eq. (52). If E is greater than a
small pre-assigned value, g is increased and the whole process
is repeated. When E satisfies the test value, the calculations are
stopped. Value of g at this point is taken as gedge . The whole
process is carried out for different values of power law index
n. The velocity profiles obtained in each of these cases are pre-
sented graphically. The physical quantity, the coefficient of
local skin friction Cf is given as follows
7
three dimensional flows. From a practical point of view, simi-
larity solutions might be applied to the study of boundary
layer flow over aerodynamic configurations such as wings, mis-
siles, fuselage forms or channel flows. Further work can be car-
ried out on the different geometry of surfaces and co-ordinate
systems associated with similarity analysis.
Acknowledgment
The authors express their gratitude to the referees for their crit-
ical reviews and fruitful comments.
 n  1
Cf ¼ 2 F100 ð0Þ Re nþ1
6. Conclusion
One parameter deductive group transformation has been
applied to the considered governing equations and their
boundary conditions, thereby successfully reducing two
independent variables to one. All possible conditions under
which the similarity solution for present flow situation exists,
are automatically derived from the similarity requirement.
Thus, the obtained similarity solution is in the most general
form. Finally the coupled system of self-similar Eqs. (44) and
(45) with boundary conditions (42) are solved numerically.
The effects of velocity profiles in x and y directions are pre-
sented for the shear thinning (n = 0.4, 0.8), Newtonian
(n = 1) and shear thickening (n = 1.5) of the quasi three
dimensional fluid. It has been observed that the thickness of
the viscous layer in the region close to the plate is higher for
n > 1 compared to that when n < 1. Moreover, it is clear from
Figs. 1 and 2 that the velocity components increase with the
increase in the value of g (see Fig. 3).
It is interesting to note that Hansen and Na [5] have derived
similarity solution of the considered equations using linear and
spiral group of transformations whereas the similarity solu-
tion, here, has been derived using more general group theoretic
method known as deductive group transformation [22] and has
further been solved numerically based on MSABC. Moreover,
Patel and Timol [23] have applied MSABC for two dimen-
sional flows. The same technique has been extended for quasi
Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002
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Please cite this article in press as: N. Jain, M.G. Timol, Similarity solutions of quasi three dimensional power law fluids using the method of satisfaction of asymptotic
boundary conditions, Alexandria Eng. J. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2015.04.002