Starting solutions for the flow of second grade fluids in a rectangular channel due to an oscillating shear stress

Abstract

The unsteady motion of a second grade fluid between two parallel side walls perpendicular to a plate is studied by means of the Fourier sine and cosine transforms. Initially, the fluid is at rest and at time t = 0+, the plate applies an oscillating shear to the fluid. The solutions that have been obtained, presented under integral and series form and written as a sum between steady time-periodic and transient solutions can be easily reduced to the similar solutions for Newtonian fluids performing the same motion. They describe the motion of the fluid some time after its initiation. After that time, when the transient solutions disappear, the motion of the fluid is described by the steady time-periodic solutions that are independent of the initial conditions. In the absence of side walls, more exactly when the distance between walls tends to infinity, all solutions reduce to those corresponding to the motion over an infinite plate. As it was to be expected, the steady time-periodic solutions corresponding to sine and cosine oscillations of the shear stress on the boundary differ by a phase shift. Finally, the influence of side walls on the fluid motion, the required time to reach the steady periodic flow, as well as the distance between walls for which the velocity of the fluid in the middle of the channel is unaffected by their presence are established by numerical calculus and graphical illustrations. As expected, the time needed to reach the steady periodic flows is lower in the presence of side walls. It is lower for Newtonian fluids in comparison with second grade fluids and greater for sine oscillations in comparison to the cosine oscillations of the boundary shear.