Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873

www.elsevier.com/locate/amc

Viscous flow and heat transfer over

a nonlinearly stretching sheet
Rafael Cortell
Departamento de Fı́sica Aplicada, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos,
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, 46071 Valencia, Spain

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical analysis for flow and heat transfer in a viscous fluid over a nonlinear stretching sheet by
employing a novel numerical procedure and two cases are studied, namely, (i) the sheet with constant surface temperature
(CST case) and (ii) the sheet with prescribed surface temperature (PST case). The governing partial differential equations
are converted into highly nonlinear ordinary differential equations by a similarity transformation. The variations of dimen-
sionless surface temperature, dimensionless surface temperature gradient as well as flow and heat transfer characteristics
with the governing parameters are graphed and tabulated.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Laminar boundary layers; Nonlinearly stretching surfaces; Viscous dissipation

1. Introduction

Boundary layer behaviour over a moving continuous solid surface is an important type of flow occurring in
several engineering processes. To be more specific, heat-treated materials travelling between a feed roll and a
wind-up roll or materials manufactured by extrusion, glass-fiber and paper production, cooling of metallic
sheets or electronic chips, crystal growing and many others. In these cases, the final product of desired char-
acteristics depend on the rate of cooling in the process and the process of stretching. Since the pioneering work
of Sakiadis [1], various aspects of the problem have been investigated by many authors. Crane [2] and Gupta
and Gupta [3] have analyzed heat and mass transfer in a stretching problem with constant surface temperature
while Soundalgekar [4] investigated the Stokes problem for a viscoelastic fluid. This flow was examined by
Siddappa and Khapate [5] for a special class of non-Newtonian fluids known as second-order fluids which
are viscoelastic in nature. Danberg and Fansler [6] studied the solution for the boundary-layer flow past a wall
that is stretched with a speed proportional to the distance along the wall and Rao et al. [7] studied arbitrary
injection/suction at a moving wall in a power-law fluid.

E-mail address: rcortell@fis.upv.es

0096-3003/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.amc.2006.06.077
 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873 865

Nomenclature

A constant
C physical parameter related with stretched surface
cP specific heat
Ec, E0c Eckert number
f dimensionless stream function
k surface temperature parameter
n nonlinear stretching parameter
T temperature
u, v velocity components along x- and y-directions, respectively
x, y Cartesian coordinates along the plate and normal to it, respectively
w auxiliary variable

Greek symbols
g dimensionless similarity variable
h dimensionless temperature
kT thermal conductivity
l dynamic viscosity
m kinematic viscosity
q density
r Prandtl number
s shear stress

Subscripts
w, 1 conditions at the surface and in the free stream, respectively

Superscript
prime derivative with respect to g

Recently, Magyari and Keller [8] studied the stretching problem of an incompressible fluid over a perme-
able wall. On the other hand, the author of this work has studied heat transfer in an incompressible second-
order fluid caused by a stretching sheet in a linear fashion [9] and has also analyzed the flow of a fluid of
grade three past an infinite porous flat plate subject to suction at the plate [10]. However, Gupta and Gupta
[3] have underlined that the stretching of the sheet may not necessarily be linear. In view of this, Vajravelu
[11] studied flow and heat transfer in a viscous fluid over a nonlinear stretching sheet without viscous dis-
sipation, but the heat transfer in this flow is analyzed in the only case when the sheet is held at a constant
temperature. In order to obtain more realistic solutions where non-isothermal conditions at the flat sheet are
present, in this paper we study flow and heat transfer on a nonlinear stretching sheet for two different types
of thermal boundary conditions on the sheet, constant surface temperature (CST case) and prescribed sur-
face temperature (PST case) which, to our knowledge, has not been yet considered within available litera-
ture. Another effect which bears great importance on heat transfer is the viscous dissipation. When the
viscosity of the fluid and/or the velocity gradient is high, the dissipation term becomes important. Conse-
quently, the effects of viscous dissipation are also included in the energy equation. Moreover, sometimes, a
lack in available boundary conditions prevents us from achieving studies of flow and heat transfer. For that
reason, in the boundary layer flow induced in a quiescent fluid by a nonlinearly stretching sheet, first, we
solve the momentum transfer problem and, second, momentum and heat transfer problems. This novel
numerical procedure based on the Runge–Kutta scheme leads to avoid a lack of convergence of the
solution.
866 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873

In this work, the temperature of the sheet is taken to be higher than the temperature of the fluid. This paper
aims to find numerical solutions for the nonlinear problem above-mentioned. In Section 2, we shall examine
the analysis and numerical procedure of the flow of a viscous fluid over a nonlinear stretching sheet; in Section
3, we shall study the influence of the nonlinear stretching parameter n on heat-transfer characteristics when the
dissipative heat is enclosed in the energy equation. Finally, several interesting behaviours of the effects of non-
linear stretching on flow and heat transfer characteristics are discussed in Section 4.

2. Flow analysis

We consider the flow of an incompressible viscous fluid past a flat sheet coinciding with the plane y = 0, the
flow being confined to y > 0. Two equal and opposite forces are applied along the x-axis so that the wall is
stretched keeping the origin fixed. The steady two-dimensional boundary layer equations for this fluid, in
the usual notation, are
ou ov
þ ¼ 0; ð1Þ
ox oy
ou ou o2 u
u þv ¼t 2; ð2Þ
ox oy oy
where (x, y) denotes the Cartesian coordinates along the sheet and normal to it, u and v are the velocity com-
ponents of the fluid in the x- and y-directions, respectively, and m is the kinematic viscosity. The boundary
conditions to the problem are
uw ðxÞ ¼ Cxn ; v ¼ 0 at y ¼ 0; ð3Þ
u ! 0 as y ! 1; ð4Þ
where C and n are parameters related to the surface stretching speed.
Defining new variables
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  
Cðn þ 1Þ n1 n 0 Ctðn þ 1Þ n1 n1 0
g¼y x ; u ¼ Cx f ðgÞ; v ¼ 
2 x fþ
2 gf ð5Þ
2t 2 nþ1
and substituting into Eqs. (1) and (2) give
 
0 2 2n
ðf Þ  ff 00  f 000 ¼ 0; ð6Þ
nþ1
where a prime denotes differentiation with respect to the independent similarity variable g. The boundary con-
ditions (3) and (4) become
f ¼ 0; f 0 ¼ 1 at g ¼ 0; ð7Þ
f 0 ! 0 as g ! 1: ð8Þ
Substituting the second condition (7) by f 0 = 0 at g = 0 and condition (8) by f 0 ! 1 as g ! 1, Eqs. (6)–(8) for
n = 0, are the classical Blasius flat-plate flow problem and a numerical study in detail of that problem has been
carried out by the author of this work [12]. For the linearly stretching boundary problem (i.e., n = 1) the exact
solution for the velocity field f is
f ðgÞ ¼ 1  expðgÞ ð9Þ
and this exact solution is unique, while for the nonlinearly stretching boundary problem (i.e., n 5 1) there is
no exact solution (see [11]).
The shear stress at the stretched surface is defined as
 
ou
sw ¼ l ð10Þ
oy w
 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873 867

and we obtain from (5) and (10)

rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Cðn þ 1Þ 3n1 00
sw ¼ Cl x 2 f ð0Þ; ð11Þ
2m
where l is the viscosity of the fluid.
A listing of the velocity gradient wall f00 (0) values is given in Table 1. These values were obtained by employ-
ing a Runge–Kutta algorithm for high order initial value problems [13] and related numerical studies as well as
solution procedure are in [12,14–16].
It can be seen from Table 1 that jf00 (0)j increases with an increase in the nonlinear stretching parameter n.
On the other hand, we observe from Fig. 1 that both f and f 0 decrease with an increase in n and its influence on
both horizontal and vertical velocity profiles can be analysed by using Eq. (5). Eq. (6) subjects to the boundary
conditions (7) and (8) represents the flow problem recently studied by Vajravelu and Cannon [17]. For n = 10
they obtain jf00 (0)j = 1.2348 (see Table 1 in [17]) and based on our numerical results we obtain
jf00 (0)j = 1.234875 (see Table 1).

Table 1
The velocity gradient at the wall f00 (0)
n f00 (0)
0.0 0.627547
0.2 0.766758
0.5 0.889477
0.75 0.953786
1.0 1.0
1.5 1.061587
3.0 1.148588
7.0 1.216847
10.0 1.234875
20.0 1.257418
100.0 1.276768

Fig. 1. Plot of the functions f, f 0 and f00 for several values of n (f (solid line: ———); f 0 (broken line: – – – –) and f00 (dash dot line: – . – . – . –)).
868 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873

3. Heat transfer analyses

By using boundary layer approximations and taking into account the viscous dissipation, the equation of
the energy for temperature T is given by
 2
oT oT o2 T m ou
u þv ¼a 2þ ; ð12Þ
ox oy oy cP oy

where cP and a are the specific heat of the fluid at constant pressure and the thermal diffusivity, respectively.

3.1. Constant surface temperature (CST case)

In this circumstance, the boundary conditions are

T ¼ Tw at y ¼ 0; T ! T1 as y ! 1: ð13Þ
Defining the non-dimensional temperature h(g) as
T  T1
hðgÞ ¼ ð14Þ
Tw  T1
and using Eqs. (5) in (12), we get

h00 þ rf h0 þ rEc ðf 00 Þ2 ¼ 0; ð15Þ

where
u2w
Ec ¼ ð16Þ
cP ðT w  T 1 Þ
is the Eckert number, rð¼ amÞ is the Prandtl number and primes denote differentiation with respect to g. Fur-
ther, the constants Tw, T1 denote the temperature at the wall and at large distance from the wall, respectively.
Realize that the x-coordinate cannot be eliminated from Eq. (15). So, the temperature profiles always depend
on x. In other words, one may look for the availability of local similarity solutions.
The boundary conditions for h(g) follow from (13) and (14) as:

h ¼ 1 at g ¼ 0; h!0 as g ! 1: ð17Þ

The rate of heat transfer of the surface is derived from (14) as

  rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
dT 0 n1 Cðn þ 1Þ
kT ¼ kT ðT w  T 1 Þh ð0Þx 2 ; ð18Þ
dy y¼0 2t

where kT is the thermal conductivity.

As noted in the Introduction from Eq. (15) that when the viscosity of the fluid and/or the velocity gradient
is high, the dissipation term (i.e., rEc(f00 )2) becomes important.
On the other hand, we begin now the development of the procedure for completing the solution for h(g). An
analytical solution for the flow problem with n 5 1 does not exist and, consequently, one has to use numerical
techniques. It is clear that f00 (0) in that problem depends on n (see Table 1). Since the flow problem is uncou-
pled from the thermal problem given by Eqs. (15)–(17), changes in the values of r and Ec will not affect the
fluid velocity. For this reason, both the function f and its derivatives are identical in the complete problem
(flow and heat transfer) when n is given. In view of the above discussions, we have solved numerically, first,
the problem ((6)–(8)) and we have obtained f00 (0) and second, with these results, we shall solve numerically the
problem (Eqs. (6)–(8), (15) and (17)). This procedure has already been applied to discuss some flow and heat
transfer problems [14].
 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873 869

Eqs. (6) and (15) can easily be written as the equivalent first-order system
w01 ¼ w2 ;
w02 ¼ w3 ;
 
2n
w03 ¼ w1 w3 þ w2 ; ð19Þ
nþ1 2
w04 ¼ w5 ;
w05 ¼ rw1 w5  rEc w23 ;
where the prime indicates differentiation with respect to g, w1 = f, w4 = h and the values of w3(0) = f00 (0) are
given in Table 1.
In accordance with conditions (7), (8) and (17) we obtain
w1 ð0Þ ¼ 0; w2 ð0Þ ¼ 1; w4 ð0Þ ¼ 1; ð20Þ
w2 ð1Þ ¼ 0; w4 ð1Þ ¼ 0: ð21Þ
Using numerical methods of integration and disregarding temporarily the conditions  (21), a family of solu-
dh
tions of ((19) and (20)) can be obtained for arbitrarily chosen values of w5 ð0Þ ¼ dg . Tentatively we assume
g¼0
that a special value of jh 0 (0)j yields a solution for which h(g), h 0 (g) vanishes at a certain g = g1 (see second
condition (21)) and satisfies the additional condition
w2 ðg1 Þ ¼ 0; w4 ðg1 Þ ¼ w5 ðg1 Þ ¼ 0; ð22a; bÞ
where the solution reach its asymptotic state.
Taking w3(0) from Table 1, we guess w5(0) and integrate Eq. (19) and conditions (20) as an initial value
problem by employing a Runge–Kutta algorithm for high-order initial value problems [13] with the additional
conditions (22)a-b.
h 0 (0) < 0 implies that the heat flows from the surface to the ambient fluid (i.e., Tw > T1) and in accordance
with Eq. (14) a negative h is not realistic. Consequently, for a physically consistent numerical result, the cor-
responding h is everywhere finite and non-negative.
When the viscous dissipation is not taken into account (i.e., Ec = 0) we obtain from Eq. (15) the simpler
equation
h00 þ rf h0 ¼ 0 ð23Þ
and the numerical solutions for this case are shown in Fig. 2. It is seen from this figure that, for fixed r, the
influence of n is to increase the temperature distribution with its increases whereas the effect of r is to de-
crease this temperature. Furthermore, heat transfer characteristics at the wall are presented in Table 2 with
and without viscous dissipation. When this effect is taken into account, an increase of the fluid temperature
occur.

3.2. Prescribed surface temperature (PST case)

Here, the boundary conditions are

T ¼ T w ð¼ T 1 þ Axk Þ at y ¼ 0; T ! T1 as y ! 1; ð24Þ

where k is the surface temperature parameter.

Using Eqs. (5), (14) and (24) in (12), we get
 
2k 2
h00 þ rf h0  rf 0 h ¼ rE0c x2nk ðf 00 Þ ð25Þ
nþ1
2
with E0c ¼ Ac
C
P
, and
hð0Þ ¼ 1; hð1Þ ! 0: ð26Þ
870 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873

Fig. 2. Temperature and temperature gradient profiles in CST case for two values of n and r with Ec = 0 (n = 0.5 (solid line: ———);
n = 3 (dash dot line: – . – . – . –)).

Table 2
Heat transfer characteristics at the wall in CST case
Ec n h 0 (0)
r=1 r=5
0.0 0.2 0.610262 1.607175
0.5 0.595277 1.586744
1.5 0.574537 1.557463
3.0 0.564472 1.542337
10.0 0.554960 1.528573

0.1 0.2 0.574985 1.474764

0.5 0.556623 1.436789
1.5 0.530966 1.381861
3.0 0.517977 1.352768
10.0 0.505121 1.324772

If k = 2n, we find from (25)

 
4n 2
h00 þ rf h0  rf 0 h ¼ rE0c ðf 00 Þ ; ð27Þ
nþ1
It is clear from Eq. (27) that all solutions are then of the similar type. On the other hand, for an arbitrary value
of k and neglecting heat dissipation, we find from (25)
 
2k
h00 þ rf h0  rf 0 h ¼ 0: ð28Þ
nþ1
The local surface heat flux can be expressed as
  rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
oT 2kþn1 0 Cðn þ 1Þ
qw ¼ kT ¼ kT Ax 2 h ð0Þ : ð29Þ
oy w 2t
 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873 871

Following Section 3.1, problem ((26) and (28)) was solved and the numerical solutions for two values of n, r
and k are shown in Fig. 3 (i.e., k = 0.2) and in Fig. 4 (i.e., k = 1).
We observe from Fig. 4 that when k > 0 the influence of n is to increase the temperature with its increases.
However, when k < 0, we can see from Fig. 3 an opposite behaviour. Moreover, the problem ((26) and (27))

Fig. 3. Temperature and temperature gradient profiles in PST case for two values of n and r with E0c ¼ 0 and k = 0.2 [n = 0.5 (solid line:
———); n = 3 (dash dot line: – . – . – . –)].

Fig. 4. Temperature and temperature gradient profiles in PST case for two values of n and r with E0c ¼ 0 and k = 1 (n = 0.5 (solid line:
———); n = 3 (dash dot line: – . – . – . –)).
872 R. Cortell / Applied Mathematics and Computation 184 (2007) 864–873

Table 3
Heat transfer characteristics at the wall in PST case with k = 2n
E0c n h 0 (0)
r=1 r=5
0.0 0.75 1.252672 3.124975
1.5 1.439393 3.567737
7.0 1.699298 4.185373
10.0 1.728934 4.255972

0.1 0.75 1.219985 3.016983

1.5 1.405078 3.455721
7.0 1.662506 4.065722
10.0 1.691822 4.135296

was also solved and a listing of the temperature gradient at the wall h 0 (0) values with and without viscous dis-
sipation in PST case is given in Table 3.
It is seen from Table 3 that for fixed Prandtl number r the dimensionless heat-transfer coefficient [h 0 (0)]
increases with increase in n. This trend leads to a diminution in the temperature of the fluid. Consequently,
more heat is carried out of the sheet, resulting in a decrease of the thermal boundary layer thickness and hence
increasing the heat transfer rate. On the other hand, it is also seen from Table 3 that the presence of viscous
dissipation yields an augment in the fluid’s temperature.

4. Discussions and conclusions

Flow and heat transfer in a viscous fluid over a nonlinear stretching sheet have been analysed. Numerical
solutions for momentum and heat transfer are obtained by employing a Runge–Kutta algorithm for high-
order initial value problems (see [13]). From our numerical results the following conclusions may be drawn:

1. The dimensionless stream function f, its derivatives and the velocity components u and v are affected with
the nonlinear stretching parameter n. As shown, both f and f 0 decrease with an increase in n. This influence
becomes important when n is low.
2. In CST case, the influence of the parameter n is to increase the temperature with its increases whereas the
effect of r is to decrease this temperature for both cases, with and without viscous dissipation.
3. For the PST case, similarity solutions have been obtained and the influence of the nonlinear stretching
parameter n is to increase [h 0 (0)] with its increases.

References

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