Unsteady flow over a stretching surface in a rotating fluid

Abstract

The unsteady laminar, incompressible boundary layer flow caused by the stretching of a flat surface in a rotating fluid has been studied when the surface is stretched in a particular manner. The partial differential equations governing the semi-similar case and the ordinary differential equations governing the self-similar case have been solved numerically using the finite-difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. The solution is found to depend on a parameter λ which signifies the relative importance of rotation rate to stretching rate. The effect of power-law variation of the surface temperature and surface heat flux on the heat transfer characteristics of the stretching surface has been analysed. The temperature parameter (m) is found to play an important role in the heat transfer characteristics of the surface. The magnitude of m affects the direction of flow and quantity of heat transfer. For m=-1, there is no heat transfer occurring between the stretching surface and the ambient fluid in the steady state for prescribed wall temperature.