Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615

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Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cnsns

Flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian fluid past a stretching

sheet with partial slip
Bikash Sahoo *
Department of Mathematics, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Orissa 769008, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The entrained flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian third grade fluid due to a linearly
Received 5 July 2008 stretching surface with partial slip is considered. The partial slip is controlled by a dimen-
Received in revised form 14 December 2008 sionless slip factor, which varies between zero (total adhesion) and infinity (full slip). Suit-
Accepted 24 April 2009
able similarity transformations are used to reduce the resulting highly nonlinear partial
Available online 12 May 2009
differential equations into ordinary differential equations. The issue of paucity of boundary
conditions is addressed and an effective second order numerical scheme has been adopted
PACS:
to solve the obtained differential equations even without augmenting any extra boundary
47.15
47.50
conditions. The important finding in this communication is the combined effects of the par-
47.65 tial slip and the third grade fluid parameter on the velocity, skin-friction coefficient and the
temperature field. It is interesting to find that the slip and the third grade fluid parameter
Keywords: have opposite effects on the velocity and the thermal boundary layers.
Third grade fluid Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Partial slip
Heat transfer
Finite difference method
Shooting method
Broyden’s method

1. Introduction

The study of laminar boundary layer flow over a stretching sheet has received considerable attention in the past due to its
applications in the industries, for example, materials manufactured by extrusion process, the boundary layer along a liquid
film in condensation process and the heat treated materials traveling between a feed roll and the wind-up roll or on con-
veyor belt poses the features of a moving continuous surface. In view of these applications Sakiadis [1] initiated the study
of boundary layer flow over a continuous solid surface moving with constant speed. Due to the entrainment of the ambient
fluid, this boundary layer is quite different from that in the Blasius flow [2,3] past a flat plate. Erickson et al. [4] extended this
problem to the case in which the transverse velocity at the moving surface is non-zero, with heat and mass transfer in
the boundary layer taken into account. It is often tacitly assumed that the sheet is inextensible, but situations may arise
in the polymer industries in which it is necessary to deal with a stretching plastic sheet. This is bound to alter significantly
the boundary layer characteristics of the flow considered by Sakiadis [1]. The steady two-dimensional laminar flow of an
incompressible, viscous fluid past a stretching sheet has become a classical problem in fluid dynamics as it admits an unu-
sual simple closed form solution, first discovered by Crane [5]. The uniqueness of Crane’s solution is shown by Mcleod and
Rajagopal [6]. The flow and heat transfer phenomena over stretching surface have promising applications in a number of

* Tel.: +91 0661 246 2706.

E-mail addresses: bikashsahoo@nitrkl.ac.in, Dr.Bikashnitrkl@gmail.com

1007-5704/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cnsns.2009.04.032
 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 603

technological processes including production of polymer films or thin sheets. Gupta and Gupta [7] examined the heat and
mass transfer using a similarity transformation subject to suction or blowing. The recent study by Nadeem and Awais [8]
shows significant effects of variable viscosity on the thin film flow of an unsteady shrinking sheet through porous medium.
In fact, realistically stretching of the sheet may not necessarily be linear. This situation is dealt by many authors [9,10]. More-
over, the flow past a stretching sheet need not be necessarily two-dimensional because the stretching of the sheet can take
place in a variety of ways. If the flow is not two-dimensional, an analytic solution in the closed form does not seem to exist
[11,12].
All the above investigations were restricted to the flows of Newtonian fluids. Many materials such as polymer solutions or
melts, drilling mud, clastomers, certain oils and greases and many other emulsions are classified as non-Newtonian fluids.
There are many models describing the properties of non-Newtonian fluids. These models or constitutive equations, however
cannot describe all the behaviors of these non-Newtonian fluids, for example, normal stress differences, shear thinning or
shear thickening, stress relaxation, elastic effects and memory effects, etc. A rigorous study of the boundary layer flow
and heat transfer of different non-Newtonian fluids past a stretching sheet was required due to its immense industrial appli-
cations. Rajagopal et al. [13] have considered the flow of a viscoelastic second order fluid past a stretching sheet and obtained
the numerical solution of the fourth order nonlinear differential equation. Andersson [14] and Ariel [15] have reported the
analytical closed form solutions of the fourth order nonlinear differential equations arising due to the MHD flow and heat
transfer of viscoelastic Walters’ B’ fluid and the second grade fluid, respectively. One can further refer the work of Liu
[16] and all the references therein regarding the flow and heat transfer of viscoelastic second grade fluid with diverse phys-
ical effects. Sahoo and Sharma [17] have carried out an analysis to study the existence, uniqueness and behavior of the fourth
order nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations arising in the flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting sec-
ond grade fluid past a stretching sheet. Subsequently, Cortell [18] has investigated the flow and heat transfer of an incom-
pressible second grade fluid past a stretching sheet. Although extensive existing investigation of second grade fluid model
exhibit normal stresses but for steady flow it does not describe the property of shear thinning or thickening. The non-New-
tonian power-law fluid, the modified second grade fluid [19] and the higher grade fluids of differential type [20,21], namely,
the third grade and the fourth grade fluids exhibit the shear thinning and shear thickening properties. Recently, Andersson
and Kumaran [22] and Aksoy et al. [23] respectively have studied the flow of a non-Newtonian power-law fluid and modified
second grade fluid past a stretching sheet.
We now confine to the flow of third grade fluid, driven by a stretching surface. The flow is governed by a highly nonlinear
boundary value problem in which the order of the differential equations is one more than the number of available boundary
conditions. Sajid et al. [24] have studied the non-similar analytic solution for the MHD flow and heat transfer of a third-order
fluid over a stretching sheet with no-slip boundary conditions. Their report depicts that both the velocity components in-
crease and the boundary layer thickness decreases with an increase in the third order fluid parameter. Whereas, the third
order fluid parameter has an opposite effect on the temperature and the thermal boundary layer thickness. The subsequent
studies by Sajid and Hayat [25] and Sajid et al. [26] also reveal some interesting effects of the third order fluid parameter on
the flows past two-dimensional and axisymmetric stretching sheets, respectively. Most recently, the present author [27] has
adopted an effective numerical scheme to solve the two-dimensional stagnation point flow and heat transfer of a third grade
fluid, which closely resembles to the flow and heat transfer of a third grade fluid past a stretching sheet.
In all the above mentioned studies no attention has been given to the effects of partial slip on the flow past a stretching
sheet. The no-slip boundary condition (the assumption that a liquid adheres to a solid boundary) is one of the central tenets
of the Navier–Stokes theory. However, there are situations wherein this condition does not hold. Partial velocity slip may
occur on the stretching boundary when the fluid is particulate such as emulsions, suspensions, foams and polymer solutions.
The inadequacy of the no-slip condition is evident for most non-Newtonian fluids. For example, polymer melts often exhibit
macroscopic wall slip and that in general is governed by a nonlinear and monotone relation between the slip velocity and the
traction. The fluids that exhibit boundary slip have important technological applications such as in the polishing of artificial
heart valves and internal cavities. Navier [28] proposed a slip boundary condition wherein the slip depends linearly on the
shear stress. However, experiments suggest that the slip velocity also depends on the normal stress. A number of models
have been advanced for describing the slip that occurs at solid boundaries. A brief description of these models can be found
in the work of Rao and Rajagopal [29].
The viscous slip flow due to a two-dimensional stretching surface is studied by Wang [30], but the closed form solution is
due to Andersson [31]. The steady, laminar, axisymmetric flow of a Newtonian fluid due to a stretching sheet with partial slip
boundary condition has been studied by Ariel [32]. Recently, Wang [33] has revived an interest in the viscous flow due to a
stretching sheet with partial slip and suction. He obtained a closed form solution for the two-dimensional stretching sheet
and established the existence and uniqueness for the axisymmetric case. In the aforementioned studies no attention has
been given to the effects of partial slip on the flow of any non-Newtonian fluid over a stretching sheet. Ariel et al. [34]
and Hayat et al. [35] have tried to fill this gap and have investigated the effects of partial slip on the flows of different
non-Newtonian fluids over a stretching sheet.
It seems that there is relatively little information regarding the joint effects of the partial slip and the non-Newtonian flow
parameters on the flow and heat transfer due to a stretching sheet. Numerical computations of the differential equations
incorporating constitutive equations for slip have not been fully explored. However, incorporating slip at the wall has led
to possible explanation for an interesting class of problems. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no attention has been
given to the effects of partial slip on the flow and heat transfer of a third grade fluid past a stretching sheet. Even, the hydro-
604 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615

dynamic slip flow of a third grade fluid past a stretching sheet without heat transfer is not discussed so far. The objective of
the present study is to investigate the combined effects of the non-Newtonian flow parameters and the partial slip on the
flow and heat transfer of a third grade fluid arising due to the linearly stretching sheet. The obtained results have promising
applications in engineering. The current investigation is not only important because of its technological significance, but also
in view of the interesting mathematical features presented by the equations governing the slip flow and heat transfer.

2. Formulation of the problem

It is well known that the Cauchy stress for an incompressible homogeneous third grade fluid is given by [20,36]:

T ¼ pI þ lA1 þ a1 A2 þ a2 A21 þ b1 A3 þ b2 ðA1 A2 þ A2 A1 Þ þ b3 ðtr A21 ÞA1 ; ð1Þ

where l is the coefficient of viscosity, ai and bj are the material moduli. In the above representation pI is the spherical
stress due to the constraint of incompressibility, and the kinematical tensors A1 ; A2 and A3 are defined by

A1 ¼ ðrVÞ þ ðrVÞT
dAn1
An ¼ þ An1 ðrVÞ þ ðrVÞT An1 ; n ¼ 2; 3 ð2Þ
dt
where V is the velocity field, r is the gradient operator and dtd is the material time derivative. If all the motions of the fluid are
to be compatible with thermodynamics in the sense that these motions meet Clausius–Duhem inequality and if it is assumed
that the specific Helmholtz free energy is a minimum when the fluid is locally at rest, then
l P 0;
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
a1 P 0; ja1 þ a2 j 6 24lb3 ; ð3Þ
b1 ¼ b2 ¼ 0; b3 P 0:
A detailed thermodynamic analysis of the model, represented by Eq. (1) can be found in [37]. Therefore, the constitutive rela-
tion for a thermodynamically compatible third grade fluid becomes

T ¼ pI þ lA1 þ a1 A2 þ a2 A21 þ b3 ðtr A21 ÞA1 ð4Þ

We consider the steady, laminar flow and heat transfer of an incompressible and thermodynamically compatible third grade
fluid past stretching sheet, coinciding with the plane y ¼ 0. Fig. 1 represents the schematic diagram of the flow domain. By
applying two equal and opposite forces along the x-axis, the sheet is being stretched with a speed proportional to the dis-
tance from the fixed origin, x ¼ 0. The fluid occupies the half space y > 0 and the motion of the otherwise quiescent fluid is
induced due to the stretching of the sheet. The fluid adheres to the sheet partially and thus motion of the fluid exhibits the
slip condition. The heat transfer analysis has been carried out for two heating processes, namely, the (i) prescribed surface
temperature case (PST) and (ii) prescribed heat flux case (PHF).

2.1. Flow analysis

Making the usual boundary layer approximations [27,38] for the non-Newtonian third grade fluid, namely, within the
are Oð1Þ; y and v are OðdÞ, m and aqi ði ¼ 1; 2Þ being Oðd2 Þ, b3 being Oðd4 Þ and the terms of
2
boundary layer u; @u
@x
; @@x2u and @p
@x
OðdÞ are neglected (d being the boundary layer thickness), the equations of continuity and motion can be written as

y v

O x
u = Cx

Fig. 1. Sketch of the flow past a planar stretching sheet.

 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 605

@u @ v
þ ¼ 0; ð5Þ
@x @y
" #  2
@u @u @ 2 u a1 @3u @u @ 2 u @u @ 2 v @3u 2a2 @u @ 2 v 6b3 @u @ 2 u
u þv ¼m 2þ u þ þ 3 þ v þ þ : ð6Þ
@x @y @y q @x@y2 @x @y2 @y @y2 @y3 q @y @y2 q @y @y2
The appropriate partial slip boundary conditions of the velocity field are
u  Cx ¼ k1 T xy ; v ¼0 at y ¼ 0;
ð7Þ
u ! 0 as y ! 1;
which can be rewritten as
" !  3 #
@u a1 @u @u @2u @2u b3 @u
u  Cx ¼ k1 þ 2 þv 2 þu þ2 at y ¼ 0; v ð0Þ ¼ 0; u ! 0 as y ! 1: ð8Þ
@y l @x @y @y @x@y l @y
For similarity solution, we define the variables,
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Cl Cq
u ¼ Cxu ðfÞ; 0
v¼ uðfÞ; where f ¼ y: ð9Þ
q l
The continuity Eq. (5) is automatically satisfied. Equation of motion (6) and the boundary conditions (8) get reduced to

u000  u02 þ uu00 þ Kð2u0 u000  uuiv Þ  ð3K þ 2LÞu002 þ 6bRx u000 u002 ¼ 0; ð10Þ
and

uð0Þ ¼ 0; u0 ð0Þ  1 ¼ ku00 ð0Þ½1 þ 3K u0 ð0Þ þ 2bRx u002 ð0Þ;

u0 ðfÞ ! 0 as f ! 1: ð11Þ
C a1 C a2 C 2 b3 2
where K ¼ l ; L ¼ l , b ¼ l and Rx ¼ Cxm are, respectively, the non-dimensional viscoelastic parameter, cross-viscous
parameter, the third grade fluid parameter and the local Reynolds
qffiffi number. The relative importance of the slip to viscous
C
effects is indicated by the non-dimensional slip factor k ¼ k1 m.
Another quantity of interest in the boundary layer flow is the local skin-friction coefficient or frictional drag coefficient,
which is related to the wall shear stress T xy jy¼0 and is given by
T xy jy¼0
C f ðxÞ ¼ ; ð12Þ
1
2
qðCxÞ2
which in terms of the dimensionless quantities is
2 
C f ðxÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffi ½u00 þ Kð3u0 u00  uu000 Þ þ 2bRx u003 f¼0 : ð13Þ
Rx

2.2. Heat transfer analysis

The thermal boundary layer equation for the thermodynamically compatible third grade fluid with viscous dissipation
and work done due to deformation is
   2    4
@T @T @2T @u @u @ @u @v @u
qcp u þv ¼j þ l þ a1 u þ v þ 2b3 : ð14Þ
@x @y @y2 @y @y @y @x @y @y

The solution of Eq. (14) depends on the nature of the prescribed boundary conditions. Two types of heating processes are
considered as discussed below.

2.2.1. The prescribed surface temperature (PST case)

In this case the boundary conditions are
x2
T ¼ Tw ¼ T1 þ A at y ¼ 0;
l
T ! T1 as y ! 1; ð15Þ
where A is a constant and l is the characteristic length. Defining the dimensionless temperature hðfÞ as hðfÞ ¼ TTT 1
w T 1
and using
(9) in the energy Eq. (14), we get,
606 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615


h00 þ Pr ðuh0  2u0 hÞ ¼ Pr Ec u002 þ K u00 ðu0 u00  uu000 Þ þ 2bRx u004 ; ð16Þ
lcp C 2 l2
where P r ¼ jand Ec ¼ cp A
are the Prandtl number and the Eckert number, respectively. The corresponding thermal bound-
ary conditions are
h ¼ 1 at f ¼ 0;
h ! 0 as f ! 1: ð17Þ

2.2.2. The prescribed surface heat flux (PHF case)

The corresponding thermal boundary conditions are
@T x2
j ¼ qw ¼ D at y ¼ 0;
@y l
T ! T 1 as y ! 1: ð18Þ
Taking the dimensionless temperature as
rffiffiffi
D x2 m
T  T1 ¼ gðfÞ; ð19Þ
j l C
and using the transformations (9) in Eq. (14), the corresponding energy equation becomes

g 00 þ Pr ðug 0  2u0 gÞ ¼ Pr Ec u002 þ K u00 ðu0 u00  uu000 Þ þ 2bRx u004 : ð20Þ
Here, the Eckert number is defined as
rffiffiffi
jC 2 l2 C
Ec ¼ ; ð21Þ
Dcp m
which is different from the Eckert number in the PST case and all other parameters are the same as before.
The corresponding thermal boundary conditions are

g 0 ðfÞ ¼ 1 at f ¼ 0;
gðfÞ ! 0 as f ! 1: ð22Þ

3. Numerical solution of the problem

At this point one can see that the order of the system of Eqs. (10) and (16) [or (10) and (20)] is six, but there are
only five available adherence boundary conditions, out of which the known boundary conditions are four, contrary to
the no-slip case [25]. In fact, the equations governing the flow of fluids of third grade are of higher order and more
nonlinear than the Navier–Stokes equations because of the presence of the terms dA dt
1
and dA
dt
2
in the expression for the
stress and since only the adherence boundary condition obtains, we do not have enough boundary conditions to make
the problem determinate. Corresponding to the increased complexity of the non-Newtonian fluids, respecting to the
Newtonian case, is the complexity of the mathematical models and to the need of more sophisticated and robust
solving techniques. The intrinsic nonlinearity of the models and their higher order differential order exclude the pos-
sibility of an analytical solution, even in the simplest geometries. Moreover, the partial slip boundary conditions make
the problem worse. The suitable choice of extra boundary conditions constitutes a delicate task in the definition of
the problem. All these new and challenging mathematical questions, some of them still open, are completely absent
in the Newtonian fluid mechanics and need special tricks and new techniques due to the specific nature of these
fluids.
Because of the apparent non-availability of extra boundary conditions, researchers tend to develop a regular perturbation
solution of the problem, taking the solution for the Newtonian fluid as the primary solution and the first order perturbed
solution as the secondary solution. Recent research culminating in the development of some new algorithms have cast seri-
ous doubts on the suitability of using the perturbation solution. This affords a number of interesting techniques and
algorithms [39,40] for obtaining the solution. The above system of nonlinear equations under the relevant boundary condi-
tions are solved by a similar numerical scheme as described in [27,41–43].
The semi-infinite integration domain f 2 ½0; 1Þ is replaced by a finite domain f 2 ½0; f1 Þ, where f1 is sufficiently large. In
this case, the extra boundary condition to be used implicitly is u000 ð0Þ. We make a reasonable assumption, namely, that all
derivatives of u are bounded at f ¼ 0. This implies that the stresses and their gradients remain bounded at the surface of
the sheet. With this assumption, using the boundary conditions (11) in (10), we obtain,

u02 ð0Þ þ ð3K þ 2LÞu002 ð0Þ

u000 ð0Þ ¼ : ð23Þ
1 þ 2K u0 ð0Þ þ 6bRx u002 ð0Þ
 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 607

Now introducing the variables

y1 ¼ u; y 2 ¼ u0 ; y3 ¼ u00 and y4 ¼ h ðor gÞ; ð24Þ
the system of Eqs. (10) and (16) [or (10) and (20)] can be written as

y03  y22 þ y1 y3 þ Kð2y2 y03  y1 y003 Þ  ð3K þ 2LÞy23 þ 6bRx y03 y23 ¼ 0; ð25Þ
y004 þ Pr ðy1 y04  2y2 y4 Þ þ Pr Ec ½y23 þ Ky3 ðy2 y3  y1 y03 Þ þ 2bRx y43  ¼ 0; ð26Þ
y02 ¼ y3 ; ð27Þ
y01 ¼ y2 : ð28Þ
The relevant boundary conditions in terms of the new variables are,

y1 ð0Þ ¼ 0; y2 ð0Þ  1 ¼ ky3 ð0Þ½1 þ 3Ky2 ð0Þ þ 2bRx y23 ð0Þ; y2 ðf1 Þ ¼ 0; ð29Þ
y4 ð0Þ ¼ 1; y4 ðf1 Þ ¼ 0; PST case ð30Þ
y04 ð0Þ ¼ 1; y4 ðf1 Þ ¼ 0: PHF case ð31Þ
For a mesh (j ¼ 0; 1; 2 . . . nÞ with uniform mesh size h, the system (25)–(28) can be discretized by the second order central
difference approximation as,
" ! !# !
yjþ1
3  y3
j1
yjþ1  yj1 yjþ1  2yj3 þ yj1 yjþ1
3  y3
j1
 ðyj2 Þ2 þ yj1 yj3 þ K 2yj2 3 3
 yj1 3 2
3
 ð3K þ 2LÞðyj 2
3 Þ þ 6bRx ðyj3 Þ2 ¼ 0;
2h 2h h 2h

ð32Þ

" ! # " ( !) #
yjþ1 j j1
4  2y4 þ y4 yjþ1
4  y4
j1
yjþ1
3  y3
j1

2
þ Pr yj1  2yj2 yj4 þ Pr Ec ðyj3 Þ2 þ Kyj3 yj2 yj3  yj1 þ 2bRx ðyj3 Þ4 ¼ 0; ð33Þ
h 2h 2h

1
yjþ1 j j jþ1
2 ¼ y2 þ hðy3 þ y3 Þ; ð34Þ
2

1
yjþ1 j j jþ1
1 ¼ y1 þ hðy2 þ y2 Þ: ð35Þ
2
In Eqs. (25) and (26), we have used the central difference formula centered at the mesh point j. However, in Eqs. (27) and
(28), we use the same, but centered at the point ðj þ 12Þ and the average of the values of y at the mesh points j and j þ 1. This
2
ensures that the discretization scheme has an accuracy of Oðh Þ.
ð1Þ
Eqs. (32) and (33) are three term recurrence relations and in order to start the integration, we need the values of y3 and
ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ
y4 or equivalently u ð0 þ hÞ and hð0 þ hÞ. For the algorithm under consideration, we obtain the values of y3 and y4 with an
00
2
accuracy Oðh Þ by expanding them in a Taylor series expansion around f ¼ 0. We have

2
h iv
ð1Þ
y3 ¼ u00 ð0 þ hÞ ¼ u00 ð0Þ þ hu000 ð0Þ þ u ð0Þ þ Oðh2 Þ; ð36Þ
2!
2
ð1Þ h 00 2
y4 ¼ hð0 þ hÞ ¼ hð0Þ þ hh0 ð0Þ þ h ð0Þ þ Oðh Þ: ð37Þ
2!
The values of u0 ð0Þ; u00 ð0Þ and h0 ð0Þ (or gð0Þ for PHF case) for comparatively small values of the flow parameters can be found
by shooting method. Now, u000 ð0Þ can be obtained from Eq. (23). To obtain the value of uiv ð0Þ, we differentiate Eq. (10) and set
f ¼ 0. Again, h00 ð0Þ can be found by putting f ¼ 0 in Eq. (16).
ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ ð1Þ
Having found y3 and y4 , the values of y2 and y1 can be found from Eqs. (34) and (35), respectively. Subsequently, Eqs.
ð2Þ ð2Þ
(32) and (33) can be used to compute y3 and y4 , respectively. The cycle is repeated in the same order till the values of
ðjÞ ðjÞ ðjÞ ðjÞ ðnÞ ðnÞ
y1 ; y2 ; y3 and y4 are found at all the mesh points up to j ¼ n. At that point y2 and y4 or equivalently u0 ðf1 Þ and
hðf1 Þ are compared with the given boundary conditions at f1 . The initial guesses on u ð0Þ, u ð0Þ and h0 ð0Þ (gð0Þ for PHF case)
0 00

are corrected using the Broyden’s method [44,45] until the convergence criterion is made. The other zero finding algorithms
like the Newton’s method or the secant method do not provide a practical procedure for solving any but smaller system of
nonlinear equations. Broyden’s method is one of the most effective algorithms for solving nonlinear system of equations
when the number of equations and unknowns are large, since the method avoids the calculation of the partial derivatives
(Jacobian) by obtaining approximations to them involving only the function values. The fact that the algorithm has an accu-
2 4
racy of only Oðh Þ need not concern us unduely, as we can easily hike the accuracy to Oðh Þ by invoking Richardson’s extrap-
olation. With reasonably close trial values to start the iterations, the convergence to the actual values within an accuracy of
Oð106 Þ could be obtained in 7—9 iterations.
608 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615

A special merit of the above adopted algorithm is that it is applicable for all ranges of the flow parameters and no addi-
tional assumptions are required regarding the boundary conditions.

4. Results and discussions

The method described above was translated into a FORTRAN 90 program and was run on a pentium IV personal computer.
The value of f1 , the numerical infinity has been taken large enough and kept invariant through out the run of the program. In
fact, this number usually depends upon the physical parameters of the problem and its value needs to be adjusted as the
values of the parameters change. The value of f1 ¼ 10:0 is found to be adequate to simulate f ¼ 1, for all the cases shown
in Figs. 2–17. However, for higher values of the flow parameters, the numerical integrations are performed over substantially
larger domain to ensure that the outer boundary conditions at f1 are satisfied. As a test of the accuracy of the solution, the
values of u00 ð0Þ and uðf1 Þ for the Newtonian (K ¼ L ¼ b ¼ 0) flow are compared with corresponding analytical values re-
ported by Wang [30,33]. It can be seen from the Table 1 that there is a good agreement between the numerical solution ob-
tained by the present algorithm and the exact analytical solution reported by Wang [30,33].
In order to have an insight of the flow and heat transfer characteristics, results are plotted graphically in Figs. 2–17 for
different choices of the flow parameters and fixed value of the local Reynolds number Rx .
In Fig. 2, we plot the non-dimensional velocity component u0 ðfÞ, the mainstream velocity, against f for various values of K,
keeping the values of the other flow parameters constant. The dominating nature of the slip on the viscoelasticity is clear
from the figure. It depicts a cross over in the velocity profile, indicating the similarity curves are not similar to each other.
In fact, in presence of slip (k–0), as the value of K increases, the flow slows down for distances close to the sheet and for
distances away from the sheet, the opposite is true, contrary to the results obtained analytically by Ariel et al. [34] for
the viscoelastic Walters’ B0 model. The present result seems to be physically more plausible. Since, the viscoelasticity of
the fluid thickens the width of the boundary layer within which the effects of viscosity are confined, and it takes longer dis-
tance for u0 ðfÞ to approach its asymptotic value zero as the value of K is increased. The reason behind such a discrepancy of
results may be due to the sign of the non-Newtonian fluid parameter K.1 It is observed that with an increase in the slip factor k,
the position of the cross over shifts towards the f axis, and eventually coincides with it, resulting a decrease of u0 ðfÞ with an
increase in K, throughout the domain of integration. Fig. 3 shows that u0 ðfÞ decreases with L. Thus, the cross-viscous parameter
decreases the momentum boundary layer thickness. The third garde fluid parameter b, on the other hand has an opposite effect
on u0 ðfÞ, as is clear from Fig. 4. Subsequently, Fig. 5 reveals that as the slip parameter increases in magnitude, permitting more
fluid to slip past the sheet, the normalized fluid velocity on the boundary u0 ð0Þ remains less than the normalized stretching
surface velocity of unity, or in other words, the flow slows down for distances close to the sheet, as was expected. In fact,
the amount of slip 1  u0 ð0Þ increases monotonically with k. In the limiting case, as k ! 1, the resistance between the viscous
fluid and the surface is eliminated and the stretching of the sheet does no longer impose any motion on the fluid, i.e. the flow
behaves as though it were inviscid.
Figs. 6–9 elucidate the variations of the skin-friction coefficient C f ðxÞ with different flow parameters in presence of slip.
Fig. 6 shows that the skin-friction coefficient is increased in magnitude with an increase in the viscoelasticity of the fluid.
This prediction is of course undesirable from an industrial standpoint, because it translates into a large driving force (or tor-
que). The shear thickening parameter b decreases the magnitude of C f ðxÞ, as is clear from Fig. 8. The effects of slip on C f ðxÞ is
shown in Fig. 9. It is apparent that the skin-friction coefficient decreases rapidly and approaches zero as the slip starts
increasing. This implies that the frictional resistance between the fluid and the surface of the sheet is eliminated, and the
stretching of the sheet does no longer impose any motion on the fluid. This observation is in agreement with that reported
by Andersson [31] for a nonmagnetic viscous fluid.
Figs. 10–17 depict the effects of emerging flow parameters on non-dimensional temperature profiles for PST and PHF
cases, respectively, for Pr ¼ 2:0 and Ec ¼ 0:3. From Figs. 12 and 16 it is clear that as the fluid becomes more shear thickening,
the temperature gets decreased, resulting a decrease in the thermal boundary layer thickness. It is noteworthy to mention
that the dependence of the temperature on b is not pronounced for smaller values of b. Whereas, the slip parameter k has an
opposite and prominent effect on the temperature profiles as is apparent from Figs. 13 and 17 respectively. Since, the mag-
nitude of the increase of the thermal boundary layer thickness due to the slip is more appreciable than that decreased due to
the third grade fluid parameter b, we can expect that the thermal characteristics are more influenced by k than those by b in
this problem.
The values of the dimensionless surface temperature gradient h0 ð0Þ in the PST case, and the dimensionless surface tem-
perature gð0Þ in PHF case against different values of the flow parameters are tabulated in Table 2 for P r ¼ 2:0 and Ec ¼ 0:05.
The data reveals that, in presence of slip, the magnitude of heat transfer rate (jh0 ð0Þj) from the surface of the sheet to the fluid
decreases with an increase in K. On the other hand, jh0 ð0Þj increases with an increase in b. The slip parameter k substantially
decreases the heat transfer rate from the sheet to the ambient fluid.

1
For Walters’ B0 fluid K < 0.
B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 609

0.8
K=0.0
K=2.0
0.7
K=4.0
K=6.0
0.6

0.5

φ ’( ζ )
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 2. Variation of u0 with K at L ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 0:1.

0.8
L=0.0
L=2.0
0.7
L=4.0
L=6.0
0.6

0.5
φ ’( ζ )

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 3. Variation of u0 with L at K ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 0:1.

0.7
β=0.0
β=5.0
0.6
β=10.0
β=15.0

0.5

0.4
φ ’( ζ )

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 4. Variation of u0 with b at K ¼ 2:0; L ¼ 2:0 and k ¼ 0:1.

610 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615

1
λ=0.0
0.9 λ=1.0
λ=2.0
0.8 λ=3.0

0.7

0.6

φ ’( ζ )
0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 5. Variation of u0 with k at K ¼ 2:0; L ¼ 2:0 and b ¼ 1:0.

−1.1

−1.15

−1.2

−1.25

−1.3
C f (x)

−1.35

−1.4

−1.45

−1.5

−1.55

−1.6
0 2 4 6 8 10
K

Fig. 6. Variation of C f ðxÞ with K at L ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

−1.15

−1.2

−1.25

−1.3

−1.35
C f (x)

−1.4

−1.45

−1.5

−1.55

−1.6
0 2 4 6 8 10
L

Fig. 7. Variation of C f ðxÞ with L at K ¼ 1:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 611

−1.26

−1.265

−1.27

C f (x)
−1.275

−1.28

−1.285
0 2 4 6 8 10
β

Fig. 8. Variation of C f ðxÞ with b at K ¼ 1:0; L ¼ 2:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

−2

−4
C f (x)

−6

−8

−10

−12
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
λ

Fig. 9. Variation of C f ðxÞ with k at K ¼ 1:0; L ¼ 2:0 and b ¼ 1:0.

1
K=0.0
0.9 K=5.0
K=10.0
0.8 K=15.0

0.7

0.6

0.5
θ (ζ )

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 10. Variation of h with K at L ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

612 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615

1
L=0.0
0.9 L=5.0
L=10.0
0.8 L=15.0

0.7

0.6

0.5

θ (ζ )
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 11. Variation of h with L at K ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

1
β=0.0
0.9 β=5.0
β=10.0
0.8 β=15.0

0.7

0.6

0.5
θ (ζ )

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 12. Variation of h with b at K ¼ 2:0; L ¼ 2:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

1
λ=0.0
0.9 λ=1.0
λ=2.0
0.8 λ=3.0

0.7

0.6

0.5
θ (ζ )

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 13. Variation of h with k at K ¼ 2:0; L ¼ 2:0 and b ¼ 1:0.

B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 613

1.4
K=0.0
K=5.0
1.2 K=10.0
K=15.0

0.8

g( ζ )
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 14. Variation of g with K at L ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

1.5
L=0.0
L=5.0
L=10.0
L=15.0

1
g( ζ )

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 15. Variation of g with L at K ¼ 2:0; b ¼ 1:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

0.9
β=0.0
0.8 β=5.0
β=10.0
0.7 β=15.0

0.6

0.5
g(ζ )

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 16. Variation of g with b at K ¼ 2:0; L ¼ 2:0 and k ¼ 1:0.

614 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615

1.4
λ=0.0
λ=1.0
1.2
λ=2.0
λ=3.0

0.8

g( ζ )
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
ζ

Fig. 17. Variation of g with k at K ¼ 2:0; L ¼ 2:0 and b ¼ 1:0.

Table 1
Variations of u00 ð0Þ and uð1Þ with the slip parameter k.

k u00 ð0Þ uð1Þ

Current result Wang [30] Current result Wang [30] Wang [33]
0.0 1.001154 1.0 1.001483 1.0 1.0
0.1 0.871447 – 0.955952 – 
0.2 0.774933 – 0.919010 – 
0.3 0.699738 0.701 0.888004 0.887 
0.5 0.589195 – 0.838008 – 0.8393
1.0 0.428450 0.430 0.752226 0.748 0.7549
1.5 0.339811 – 0.694880 – 
2.0 0.282893 0.284 0.652253 0.652 
3.0 0.213314 – 0.590892 – 0.5982
5.0 0.144430 0.145 0.513769 0.514 
8.0 0.098150 – 0.445063 – 
10.0 0.081091 – 0.413655 – 0.4331
15.0 0.056741 – 0.359080 – 
20.0 0.043748 0.0438 0.322559 0.322 
25.0 0.035644 – 0.295599 – –
50.0 0.018600 – 0.220038 – –

Table 2
Variations of h0 ð0Þ and gð0Þ with different flow parameters.

K L b k h0 ð0Þ gð0Þ
1.0 1.168932 0.855993
3.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.087476 0.919768
5.0 1.036734 0.964647
7.0 0.998052 1.001948

0.1 1.149984 0.869896

0.4 1.140536 0.877085
3.0 0.7 2.0 1.0 1.131072 0.884407
1.0 1.121597 0.891860

3.0 1.092398 0.915638

3.0 2.0 5.0 1.0 1.096824 0.911955
7.0 1.100847 0.908633
9.0 1.104534 0.905610

0.0 1.985873 0.525222

3.0 2.0 2.0 0.5 1.244742 0.804316
1.0 1.090006 0.917640
1.5 1.004499 0.995530
 B. Sahoo / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 15 (2010) 602–615 615

5. Conclusions

The present investigation is a worthwhile attempt to study the effects of partial slip on the steady flow and heat transfer
of an incompressible, thermodynamically compatible third grade fluid past a stretching sheet. An effective second order
numerical scheme has been used to solve the resulting system of highly nonlinear differential equations with inadequate
boundary conditions. The results are presented graphically and the effects of the emerging flow parameters on the momen-
tum and thermal boundary layers are discussed in detail with physical interpretations. It is found that the slip decreases the
momentum boundary layer thickness and increases the thermal boundary layer thickness, whereas, the third grade shear
thickening fluid parameter b has an opposite effect on the thermal and velocity boundary layers. Moreover, it is interesting
to find that as the slip parameter k increases in magnitude, permitting more fluid to slip past the sheet, the skin-friction coef-
ficient decreases in magnitude and approaches to zero for higher values of the slip parameter, i.e. the flow behaves as though
it were inviscid.

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