Flow of a non-Newtonian fluid past a wedge

SummaryA pseudo-similarity solution has been obtained for the flow of an incompressible fluid of second grade past a wedge. The numerical method developed for this purpose enables computation of the flow characteristics for any value of the parametersK anda, whereK is the dimensionless normal stress modulus of the fluid, anda is related to the wedge angle. Results computed forKxwa varying from 0 to 200 show a marked decrease or increase in wall shear, depending upon the wedge angle, asx−2a/K increases from 0 to about 1; thereafter the change in wall shear stress is small. The present results match exactly with those from an earlier perturbation analysis forKx2a≦0.01 but differ significantly asKx2a increases.