Stability analysis of the dual solutions for stagnation-point flow over a non-linearly stretching surface

Abstract

We formulate a general steady two-dimensional stagnation-point flow problem corresponding to the fluid flow over a non-linearly stretching sheet. We then study the existence, uniqueness and stability of the unsteady solutions about each steady solution. It is found that there exist two solution branches: one branch is always stable while the other is always unstable. Also, it is observed that with an increase in the nonlinearity of the stretching sheet, the stable solution becomes more stable while the unstable solution becomes more unstable. Further, we show that the stable solution is the physically meaningful solution and such a physical solution always exists. Moreover, the physically meaningful solution is shown to be monotone and unique.