Exact solutions of non-Newtonian fluid flows with prescribed vorticity

Abstract

The equations of motion of a non-Newtonian second-grade fluid flow are highly nonlinear partial differential equations. For this reason, there exists only a limited number of exact solutions. Due to the complexity of the equations, inverse methods described by Nemenyi [1] have become attractive in the study of non-Newtonian fluids. In these methods, certain physical or geometrical properties of the flow field are assumed a priori. Lin and Tobak [2] studied steady plane viscous incompressible flows for a chosen vorticity function by decomposing the nonlinear fourth-order partial differential equation in the streamfunction. This excellent approach yielded two second-order linear partial differential equations in the streamfunction. Hui [3] used this approach to study unsteady plane viscous incompressible flows. During the past decade, there has been substantial interest in flows of viscoelastic liquids due to the occurrence of these flows in industrial processes. In this paper, we study the steady and unsteady incompressible viscous non-Newtonian second-grade fluid flows in which the vorticity is proportional to the streamfunction perturbed by a uniform stream. The solutions obtained are exact solutions and represent various non-parallel flows of second-grade fluids. The plan of this paper is as follows: In Sect. 2, the equations of motion of an unsteady plane incompressible second-grade fluid are given, and the vorticity function is assumed to be∇ 2 ψ=A(ψ−Ux−BUy 2). In Sect. 3, solutions for the steady flow are obtained. In Sect. 4, solutions for unsteady flow are obtained.