Lie group analysis and similarity solution for fractional Blasius flow

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation for boundary layer flow of viscoelastic fluids past a flat plate. Fractional-order Blasius equation with spatial fractional Riemann–Liouville derivative is derived firstly by using Lie group transformation. The solution is obtained numerically by the generalized shooting method, employing the shifted Grünwald formula and classical fourth order Runge–Kutta method as the iterative scheme. The effects of the order of fractional derivative and the generalized Reynolds number on the velocity profiles are analyzed and discussed. Numerical results show that the smaller the value of the fractional order derivative leads to the faster velocity of viscoelastic fluids near the plate but not to hold near the outer flow. As the Reynolds number increases, the fluid is moving faster in the whole boundary layer consistently.