Acta Mechanica 189, 193–205 (2007)

DOI 10.1007/s00707-006-0430-8
Printed in The Netherlands
Acta Mechanica

Non-similar solution for the axisymmetric flow

of a third-grade fluid over a radially stretching
sheet
M. Sajid, T. Hayat, and S. Asghar, Islamabad, Pakistan

Received January 20, 2006; revised July 21, 2006

Published online: February 6, 2007 Ó Springer-Verlag 2007

Summary. The problem of axisymmetric flow of a third grade fluid over a radially stretching sheet is
studied. By means of similarity transformation, the governing non-linear partial differential equations are
reduced to a non-linear ordinary differential equation. The ordinary differential equation is analytically
solved using homotopy analysis method (HAM). The solution for the velocity is obtained. The series
solution is developed and the convergence of the results is discussed. Finally, the results are discussed with
various graphs.

1 Introduction

The fluid motion due to a stretching surface is important in extrusion processes. Crane [1]
found the exact solution of the flow due to a stretching surface in an otherwise still fluid. Quite
extensive literature is now available on this topic. Recently much attention has been focused on
boundary layer flows of non-Newtonian fluids over a stretching sheet. These problems are
significant in both theoretical and industrial contexts, since they are encountered in many
technological processes. Several recent attempts dealing with the boundary layer flows induced
by a stretching sheet are given in [2]–[7]. But little work seems to have been done dealing with
the problem of the radial stretching sheet. Ariel [8] has given the solution in the case of the
axisymmetric flow of a second grade fluid past a radially stretching sheet. All these attempts
employed some numerical methods and are semi-analytic and semi-numerical ones.
However, to the best of our knowledge no attempt is available in the literature regarding the
axisymmetric flow of a third grade fluid over a radially stretching sheet. Keeping this fact in
view, the purpose of the present study is to provide the analytic solution for such flow. The
HAM proposed by Liao [9] is applied to obtain the analytic solution of the highly non-linear
problem. The exact infinite series is presented and the recurrence formulae are obtained for
finding the coefficients of the series. Note that the HAM has already been applied for the
analytical solution of several other problems [9]–[24]. All these problems verify the validity of
HAM.
In Sect. 1 the flow equations and constitutive relations are given. The partial differential
equations are transformed into the ordinary differential equations in the same Section. The
analytic solution is developed in Sect. 2. The value of the skin friction coefficient is given in
194 M. Sajid et al.

Sect. 3. The convergence of the solution is presented in Sect. 4. Results and discussion are
included in Sect. 5. Section 6 contains the concluding remarks.

2 Flow equations

An incompressible third-grade fluid has the following constitutive equation:


T ¼
pI þ lA1 þ a1 A2 þ a2 A21 þ b1 A3 þ b2 ðA2 A1 þ A1 A2 Þ þ b3 trA21 A1 ; ð1Þ
where T is the stress tensor, p is the pressure, l is dynamic viscosity, ai ði ¼ 1; 2Þ, bi ði ¼ 1
3Þ
are the material constants, and Ai ði ¼ 1
3Þ are defined by the following:
A1 ¼ rV þ ðrVÞ| ; ð2Þ

dAn
1
An ¼ þ An
1 ðrVÞ þ ðrVÞ| An
1 ; n ¼ 2; 3; ð3Þ
dt
where V is the velocity field, r is the gradient operator, | is the transpose and d=dt is the
material time derivative defined as
 
d @
ðÞ ¼ þ V  r ðÞ: ð4Þ
dt @t
To meet the thermodynamical considerations, Fosdick and Rajagopal [25] showed that
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
l  0; a1  0; ja1 þ a2 j  24lb3 ; b1 ¼ b2 ¼ 0; b3  0; ð5Þ
and thus Eq. (1) becomes


T ¼
pI þ lA1 þ a1 A2 þ a2 A21 þ b3 trA21 A1 : ð6Þ
Let us consider an incompressible third grade fluid over a radially stretching sheet coinciding
with the plane z ¼ 0; the flow being confined to z > 0. The sheet is stretched with a speed
proportional to the radial distance from the origin. For the mathematical modelling, we take a
cylindrical polar coordinate system ðr; h; zÞ when flow occurs under the rotational symmetry.
Thus all physical quantities do not depend upon h, i.e., @=@h ¼ 0 and the azimuthal component
ðvÞ of velocity V ¼ ðu; v; wÞ vanishes identically. Under these assumptions the equations which
govern the flow are:
@u u @w
þ þ ¼ 0; ð7Þ
@r r @z
 
@u @u @Trr @Trz Trr
Thh
q u þw ¼ þ þ ; ð8Þ
@r @z @r @z r
 
@w @w 1 @ @Tzz
q u þw ¼ ðrTrz Þ þ ; ð9Þ
@r @z r @r @z
where "  2  #
@u @2u @2u @u @w @u @w
Trr ¼
p þ 2l þ 2a1 u 2 þ w þ2 þ þ
@r @r @r@z @r @r @z @r
"     #
@u 2 @u @w 2
þ a2 4 þ þ
@r @z @r
"   (    )#
@u u2 @u @w 2 @u 2 @w 2
þ 4b3 2 þ þ þ2 þ ; ð10Þ
@r r @z @r @r @z
Axisymmetric flow of a third-grade fluid 195


u u @u w @u u2 u2
Thh ¼
p þ 2l þ 2a1 þ þ þ 4a2
r r @r r @z r r
" ( 2 ( 2  2 ))#
u @u @w @u @w
þ 4b3 3 2u2 þ r2 þ þ2 þ ; ð11Þ
r @z @r @r @z
"  2  #
@w @2w @2w @w @u @u @w
Tzz ¼
p þ 2l þ 2a1 u þw 2 þ2 þ þ
@z @r@z @z @z @z @z @r
"     #
@w 2 @u @w 2
þ a2 4 þ þ
@z @z @r
"   (    )#
@w u2 @u @w 2 @u 2 @w 2
þ 4b3 2 þ þ þ2 þ ; ð12Þ
@z r @z @r @r @z
2    3
@ @ @u @w
  6 u þ w þ 7
@u @w 6 @r @z @z @r 7
Trz ¼l þ 6
þ a1 6 7
@z @r    7
4 @u @u @w @w @u @w 5
þ 3 þ þ þ
@r @z @r @z @z @r
  
@u @w @u @w
þ 2a2 þ þ
@z @r @r @z
"   (    )#
@u u2 @u @w 2 @u 2 @w 2
þ 2b3 2 þ þ þ2 þ ; ð13Þ
@z r @z @r @r @z

and u and w are the velocities in the r- and z-directions, respectively, and q is the fluid density.
The appropriate boundary conditions for the problem under consideration are

u ¼ Br; w ¼ 0; at z ¼ 0;
u! 0 as z ! 1: ð14Þ
Proceeding with the analysis, we introduce the following dimensionless quantities:
rffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffiffiffi B
u ¼ Brf 0 ðgÞ; w ¼
2 Bmf ðgÞ; g¼ z: ð15Þ
m
In the above equation the prime signifies differentiation with respect to g, and B is the pro-
portionality constant relating to the stretching of the sheet. The mass conservation equation is
automatically satisfied and Eqs. (8) to (13) give
2 3
000 00 02 a1 B
002 iv
 a2 B
002 0 000

6 f þ 2ff
f þ 2 f
ff þ f
2f f 7
@p 6 l l 7
¼ qB2 r6   7; ð16Þ
@r 4 2b3 B2 0 002 02 000 3Br2 002 000 5
þ 28f f þ 12f f þ f f
l m
 
@p Br2 00 000
¼
2Blð2ff 0 þ f 00 Þ þ 4a1 B2 ff 000 þ 11f 0 f 00 þ f f
@g m
   
Br2 00 000 Br2 0 00 000
þ 2a2 B2 14f 0 f 00 þ f f
16b3 B3 15f 02 f 00 þ ff f : ð17Þ
m m
196 M. Sajid et al.

Differentiating Eq. (16) with respect to g and Eq. (17) with respect to r and equating the
resulting equations, one obtains


f iv þ 2ff 000
2ð K þ SÞ 2f 00 f 000 þ f 0 f iv
4Kff v



þ 2H 28f 003 þ 96f 0 f 00 f 000 þ 12f 02 f iv þ 3d 2f 00 f 0002 þ f 002 f iv ¼ 0; ð18Þ
where K ¼ a1 B=l, S ¼ a2 B=l, H ¼ b3 B2 =l and d ¼ Br2 =m is the local Reynolds number.
Equation (18) is subjected to the following boundary conditions:
f ¼ 0; f0 ¼ 1 at g ¼ 0;
f0 ! 0 as g ! 1: ð19Þ
The non-linear problem consisting of Eqs. (18) and (19) will be solved in the next Section using
HAM.

3 Exact analytic solution

For solution by HAM [9], we select

f0 ðgÞ ¼ 1
e
g ð20Þ
as the initial approximation of f ðgÞ and
Lð f Þ ¼ f 000
f 0 ð21Þ
as the auxiliary linear operator which has the following property:
L½C1 þ C2 e
g þ C3 eg  ¼ 0; ð22Þ
where C1 ; C2 and C3 are arbitrary constants.
The zeroth order problem is of the following form:
h i h i
ð1
pÞL bf ðg; pÞ
f0 ðgÞ ¼ p

hN bf ðg; pÞ ; ð23Þ

bf ð0; pÞ ¼ 0; bf 0 ð0; pÞ ¼ 1; bf 0 ð1; pÞ ¼ 0; ð24Þ

where the non-linear differential operator N is given by
h i @ 4bf ðg; pÞ @ 3bf ðg; pÞ @ 5bf ðg; pÞ
N bf ðg; pÞ ¼ 4
þ 2bf ðg; pÞ 3

4Kbf ðg; pÞ
@g @g @g5
( )
@ 2bf ðg; pÞ @ 3bf ðg; pÞ @bf ðg; pÞ @ 4bf ðg; pÞ

2ð K þ SÞ 2 þ
@g2 @g3 @g @g4
2 !3 3
2b bf ðg; pÞ @ 2bf ðg; pÞ @ 3bf ðg; pÞ
6 @ f ð g; p Þ @ 7
6 28 þ96 7
6 @g2 @g @g2 @g3 7
6 7
6 7
6 !2 7
6 b 4b
@ f ðg; pÞ @ f ðg; pÞ 7
6 þ12 7
þ 2H 6 4 7: ð25Þ
6 @g @g 7
6 7
6 7
6 8 !2 !2 9 7
6 < = 7
6 @ bf ðg; pÞ @ bf ðg; pÞ
2 3
@ bf ðg; pÞ @ bf ðg; pÞ 7
2 4
4 þ3d 2 þ 5
: @g2 @g3 @g2 @g4 ;
Axisymmetric flow of a third-grade fluid 197

In the above equations p 2 ½0; 1 is the embedding parameter and

h is the auxiliary nonzero
parameter. Obviously for p ¼ 0 and p ¼ 1, we have
bf ðg; 0Þ ¼ f0 ðgÞ; ð26Þ
bf ðg; 1Þ ¼ f ðgÞ: ð27Þ
As p increases from 0 to 1, bf ðg; pÞ varies from the initial guess f0 ðgÞ to the exact solution f ðgÞ:
With the help of Taylor’s theorem and Eq. (26), one may write

X
1
bf ðg; pÞ ¼ f0 ðgÞ þ fm ðgÞpm ; ð28Þ
m¼1


1 @ mbf ðg; pÞ
fm ðgÞ ¼  : ð29Þ
m! @pm 
p¼0

It should be noted that the convergence of the series (28) depends upon
h. Assume that

is selected such that the series (28) is convergent at p ¼ 1, then due to Eq. (27) we can
h
write
X
1
f ðgÞ ¼ f0 ðgÞ þ fm ðgÞ: ð30Þ
m¼1

Differentiating m times the zeroth order deformation Eq. (23) with respect to p and then
dividing by m! and finally setting p ¼ 0, we get the following mth-order deformation problem:
L½fm ðgÞ
vm fm
1 ðgÞ ¼

hRm ðgÞ; ð31Þ

fm ð0Þ ¼ fm0 ð0Þ ¼ fm0 ð1Þ ¼ 0; ð32Þ

2
00  3
fm
1
k fk000
ð K þ SÞ 2fm
1
k fk000 þ fm
1
k
0
fkiv
6 7
6
2Kfm
1
k fkv 7
6 7
6 7
X6
m
1 6 8 00 00 00 0 00 000 9 7
iv > 28f f f þ 96f f f > 7
Rm ðgÞ ¼ fm
1 ðgÞ þ 2 6 >
>
m
1
k k
l l m
1
k k
l l >
> 7; ð33Þ
6
k¼0 6
>
< >
= 7
Pk 7
6 þH 0
þ12fm
1
k fk
l fl 0 iv 7
6 > > 7
4 l¼0>
> >
> 5
>
:
00  >
;
000 000 00 00 iv
þ3d 2fm
1
k fk
l fl þ fm
1
k fk
l fl
where
(
0; m1
vm ¼ : ð34Þ
1; m>1
We used the symbolic computation software MATHEMATICA to solve the linear Equa-
tions (31) and (32) up to first few order of approximation and found that the solution of the
problem can be expressed as an infinite series of the form

X 2mþ1
n
2mþ1 X
fm ðgÞ ¼ akm;n gk e
ng ; m  0: ð35Þ
n¼0 k¼0

Substituting Eq. (35) into Eq. (31) one obtains the following recurrence formulae for the
coefficients aqm;n of fm ðgÞ as follows for m  1, 0  n  2m þ 1 and 0  q  2m þ 1
n:
198 M. Sajid et al.

X
2m
a0m;0 ¼ vm v2mþ1 a0m
1;0
Wqm;1 lq1;1
q¼0
2 3
ðn
1ÞWqm;n l0n;0
X6
2mþ1 7

6 o7 ð36Þ
4 P
2mþ1
n n
q q
5;
n¼2 þ Wqm;n ðn
1Þln;0
ln;1
q¼1

akm;0 ¼ vm v2mþ1
k akm
1;0 ; 1  k  2m þ 1; ð37Þ

X
2m
a0m;1 ¼ vm v2m a0m
1;1 þ Wqm;1 lq1;1
q¼0
( )
X
2mþ1 X
2mþ1
n  

nWqm;n l0n;0 þ Wqm;n nlqn;0
lqn;1 ; ð38Þ
n¼2 q¼1

X
2m
akm;1 ¼ vm v2m
k akm
1;1 þ Wqm;1 lq1;k ; 1  k  2m þ 1; ð39Þ
q¼k
1

X
2mþ1
n
akm;n ¼ vm v2mþ1
n
k akm
1;n
Wqm;n lqn;k ;
q¼k

2  n  2m þ 1; 0  k  2m þ 1
n; ð40Þ
where
X
qþ1
k
q!
lq1;k ¼ ; 0  k  2q þ 1; q  0; ð41Þ
p¼0
k!2qþ1
k
p

X X
q
k q
k
r
q!
lqn;k ¼ ; 0  k  2q; q  0; n  2; ð42Þ
r¼0 p¼0 k!ðn
1Þqþ1
k
r
p nrþ1 ðn þ 1Þpþ1

and the expression for the related coefficient Wqm;n is

2 3
v2mþ1
n
q eqm
1;n
6 n   o7
6 7
h6
Wqm;n ¼
þv2mþ2
n
q dqm;n
2ð K þ SÞ 2Dqm;n þ Kqm;n
4KCqm;n 7; ð43Þ
6 7
4 h  i 5
q q q q q
þ2H 28km;n þ 96jm;n þ 12pm;n þ 3d Xm;n þ 3Pm;n

where the coefficients dqm;n ; Dqm;n , Kqm;n , Cqm;n , kqm;n , jqm;n , pqm;n , Xqm;n and Pqm;n , where m  1,
0  n  2m þ 1; 0  q  2m þ 1
n are
X
m
1 X
minfn;2kþ1g X
minfq;2kþ1
jg
dqm;n ¼ dik;j aq
i
m
1
k;n
j ; ð44Þ
k¼0 j¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g i¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
jg

X
m
1 X
minfn;2kþ1g X
minfq;2kþ1
jg
Dqm;n ¼ dik;j cq
i
m
1
k;n
j ; ð45Þ
k¼0 j¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g i¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
jg

X
m
1 X
minfn;2kþ1g X
minfq;2kþ1
jg
Kqm;n ¼ eik;j bq
i
m
1
k;n
j ; ð46Þ
k¼0 j¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g i¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
jg
Axisymmetric flow of a third-grade fluid 199

X
m
1 X
minfn;2kþ1g X
minfq;2kþ1
jg
Cqm;n ¼ gik;j aq
i
m
1
k;n
j ; ð47Þ
k¼0 j¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g i¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
jg

X
m
1 X
k X
minfn;2kþ2g X
minfq;2kþ2
pg
kqm;n ¼
k¼0 l¼0 p¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g t¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
pg

X
minfp;2lþ1g X
minft;2lþ1
jg
q
t
cil;j ct
i
k
l;p
j cm
1
k;n
p ; ð48Þ
j¼maxf0;p
2kþ2l
1g i¼maxf0;t
2kþ2l
1þp
jg

XX
m
1 k X
minfn;2kþ2g X
minfq;2kþ2
pg
jqm;n ¼
k¼0 l¼0 p¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g t¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
pg

X
minfp;2lþ1g X
minft;2lþ1
jg
q
t
dil;j ct
i
k
l;p
j bm
1
k;n
p ; ð49Þ
j¼maxf0;p
2kþ2l
1g i¼maxf0;t
2kþ2l
1þp
jg

XX
m
1 k X
minfn;2kþ2g X
minfq;2kþ2
pg
pqm;n ¼
k¼0 l¼0 p¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g t¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
pg

X
minfp;2lþ1g X
minft;2lþ1
jg
q
t
eil;j bt
i
k
l;p
j bm
1
k;n
p ; ð50Þ
j¼maxf0;p
2kþ2l
1g i¼maxf0;t
2kþ2l
1þp
jg

X
m
1 X
k X
minfn;2kþ2g X
minfq;2kþ2
pg
Xqm;n ¼
k¼0 l¼0 p¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g t¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
pg

X
minfp;2lþ1g X
minft;2lþ1
jg
q
t
dil;j dt
i
k
l;p
j cm
1
k;n
p ; ð51Þ
j¼maxf0;p
2kþ2l
1g i¼maxf0;t
2kþ2l
1þp
jg

X
m
1 X
k X
minfn;2kþ2g X
minfq;2kþ2
pg
Pqm;n ¼
k¼0 l¼0 p¼maxf0;n
2mþ2kþ1g t¼maxf0;q
2mþ2kþ1þn
pg

X
minfp;2lþ1g X
minft;2lþ1
jg
q
t
eil;j ct
i
k
l;p
j cm
1
k;n
p ; ð52Þ
j¼maxf0;p
2kþ2l
1g i¼maxf0;t
2kþ2l
1þp
jg

and the values of the related coefficients bkm;n ; ckm;n , dkm;n , eqm;n and gkm;n are
bkm;n ¼ ðk þ 1Þakþ1 k
m;n
nam;n ; ð53Þ

ckm;n ¼ ðk þ 1Þbkþ1 k
m;n
nbm;n ; ð54Þ

dkm;n ¼ ðk þ 1Þckþ1 k
m;n
ncm;n ; ð55Þ

ekm;n ¼ ðk þ 1Þdkþ1 k
m;n
ndm;n ; ð56Þ

gkm;n ¼ ðk þ 1Þekþ1 k
m;n
nem;n : ð57Þ
For the detailed procedure of deriving the above relations the reader is referred to [11]. Using
the above recurrence formulae, we can calculate all coefficients akm;n using only the first two,
a00;0 ¼ 1; a00;1 ¼
1; ð58Þ
200 M. Sajid et al.

given by the initial guess approximation in Eq. (20) The corresponding Mth-order approx-
imation of Eqs. (18) and (19) is
!
XM X
M X
2Mþ1 X X
2M 2mþ1
n
0
ng k k
fm ðgÞ ¼ am;0 þ e am;n g : ð59Þ
m¼0 m¼0 n¼1 m¼n
1 k¼0

Therefore the following explicit, totally analytic solution of the present flow is
" !#
X
1 X
M X
2Mþ1 X X
2M 2mþ1
n
0
ng k k
f ðgÞ ¼ fm ðgÞ ¼ lim am;0 þ e am;n g : ð60Þ
M!1
m¼0 m¼0 n¼1 m¼n
1 k¼0

4 Skin friction

The shear stress sw on the surface of the stretching sheet is

sw ¼ Trz jz¼0 ð61Þ
and the local skin friction coefficient or frictional drag coefficient is
sw
Cf ¼ 1 2
: ð62Þ
2 qð BrÞ

The above equation in dimensionless variables may be written as

" #
f 00 ðgÞ þ 2ð K
SÞf 0 ðgÞf 00 ðgÞ 

1=2 
Cf ¼ 2Rer
  ; ð63Þ

2Kf ðgÞf 000 ðgÞ þ 2H 12f 02 f 00 þ df 003 
g¼0

in which Rer ¼ Br2 =m indicates the local Reynolds number based on the length scale r:

5 Convergence of the analytic solution

It is known that the values of
h determine the convergence region and rate of approximation
for the HAM. The
h-curve is plotted in Fig. 1 for the 15th-order approximation. Figure 1
clearly indicates that the range for the admissible values for
h is
0:005 
h < 0:05. Our
calculations indicate that the series given by Eq. (60) converges in the whole region of g, when

S = 0.1, K = 0.1, H = 0.1, d = 1

15th–order app.
2
f ′′ (o)

−2

−4

−0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Fig. 1.
h-curve for the 15th-order
h approximation
Axisymmetric flow of a third-grade fluid 201

Table 1. Comparison of the values of
f 00 ð0Þ for the case of a second-grade fluid between our HAM
solution and the numerical solution given in ref. [8]

K Numerical Results [8] HAM Results

0:0 1:17372 1:17371

0:05 1:14241 1:14240
0:1 1:11221 1:11222
0:2 1:05603 1:05602
0:3 1:00580 1:00578
0:4 0:96115 0:96111
0:5 0:92140 0:92135
0:6 0:88586 0:88580
0:7 0:85393 0:85387
0:8 0:82507 0:82500
0:9 0:79885 0:79878
1:0 0:77491 0:77482
1:1 0:75295 0:75287
1:2 0:73272 0:73263
1:6 0:66535 0:66526
2:0 0:61355 0:61345

h ¼ 0:03: Table 1 is displayed to show the comparison of the results obtain by the HAM
solution with the numerical results of [8]. It is found that the HAM results are in very close
agreement to the numerical results.

6 Results and discussion

In this Section, the graphs for f and f 0 are plotted. In fact f 0 and f here correspond to u and w,
respectively. Attention has been focused to the graphs of f 0 and f against g for various values of
K, S, H and d:
It is shown in Fig. 2 that for the case of a viscoelastic fluid the r component of velocity and
boundary layer thickness increases with an increase in the second grade parameter K. Figure 3
elucidates that the z component of velocity increases but the boundary layer thickness decreases
by increasing second grade parameter. A similar behavior is noted for the velocity fields by
increasing third grade parameter H and d: It is interesting to note that the change in velocity is

S = −K, H = 0, d =1
1
K = 0.0

0.8 K = 0.5
K = 1.0
0.6
f '(h)

0.4

0.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 Fig. 2. Variation of f 0 ðgÞ for the second

h grade fluid
202 M. Sajid et al.

S = −K, H = 0, d =1

0.8
f '(h)

0.6
K = 0.0
0.4
K = 0.5
0.2
K = 1.0

0 1 2 3 4 5 Fig. 3. Variation of f ðgÞ for the second grade

h fluid

S = 0.1, K = 0.1, d =1
1
H = 0.0

0.8 H = 0.1
H = 0.2
0.6
f '(h)

0.4

0.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 Fig. 4. Variation of f 0 ðgÞ with increasing

h third grade parameter

S = 0.1, K = 0.1, d =1

0.8
f '(h)

0.6
H = 0.0
0.4
H = 0.1
0.2
H = 0.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 Fig. 5. Variation of f ðgÞ with increasing third

h grade parameter

very sensitive to the variation of third grade parameter as compared to the second grade
parameters. The values of the skin friction coefficient are tabulated in Tables 2 and 3. Table 2
shows that the magnitude of skin friction coefficient increases by increasing K and keeping S
fixed. However, the situation is reverse when there is a variation in S for K fixed. Table 3 shows
that the magnitude of skin friction coefficient increases with an increase in the third grade
parameter. This increase is very rapid as compared to the second grade parameter.
Axisymmetric flow of a third-grade fluid 203

S = 0.1, K = 0.1, d =1

0.8
f '(h)

0.6
H = 0.0
0.4
H = 0.1
0.2
H = 0.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 Fig. 6. Variation of f 0 ðgÞ with increasing

h local Reynolds number

S = 0.1, K = 0.1, H = 0.1

0.8
f '(h)

0.6
d=0
0.4
d=2
0.2
d=4

0 1 2 3 4 5 Fig. 7. Variation of f ðgÞ with increasing local

h Reynolds number

Table 2. Values of the skin friction coefficient Cf Re1=2

r for H ¼ 0:0, d ¼ 1,
h ¼ 0:03

K S = 0.0 S = 0.1 S = 0.2 S = 0.3

0:0
1:96307
1:59115
1:20946
0:81745

0:1
2:37565
2:00612
1:62683
1:23720
0:2
2:79481
2:42792
2:05126
1:66427
0:3
3:22048
2:85645
2:48269
2:09860
0:4
3:65252
3:29161
2:92100
2:54009

Table 3. Values of the skin friction coefficient Cf Re1=2

r for K ¼ 0:1, S ¼ 0:1, d ¼ 1,
h ¼ 0:03

H Cf Re1=2
r

0:0
2:00612
0:1
3:76152
0:2
5:08578
0:3
6:17950
0:4
6:86223
204 M. Sajid et al.

7 Concluding remarks

In this work, the axisymmetric flow of the third grade fluid over a radially stretching sheet is
analyzed. The homotopy analysis method is employed to find the analytic solution of the
problem. The explicit form of the infinite series is constructed and the recurrence formulae are
developed for the coefficients. The convergence of the results is shown explicitly. The graphical
results are presented and the influence of the emerging parameters is discussed. The results are
compared with the numerical results for the case of a second grade fluid and found in excellent
agreement.

Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the referees for their useful comments. We are also thankful for the financial
support provided by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Quaid-I-Azam University
(QAU).

References

[1] Crane, L. J.: Flow past a stretching plate. Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 21, 645–647 (1970).
[2] Liu Chung, I.: Flow and heat transfer of an electrically conducting fluid of second grade in a
porous medium over a stretching sheet subject to a transverse magnetic field. Int. J. Non-linear
Mech. 40, 465–474 (2005).
[3] Siddheshwar, P. G., Mahabaleswar, U. S.: Effects of radiation and heat source on MHD flow of a
viscoelastic liquid and heat transfer over a stretching sheet. Int. J. Non-linear Mech. 40, 807–820
(2005).
[4] Mahapatra, T. R., Gupta, A. S.: Stagnation-point flow of a viscoelastic fluid towards a stretching
surface. Int. J. Non-linear Mech. 39, 811–820 (2004).
[5] Datti, P. S., Prasad, K. V., Abel, M. S., Joshi, A.: MHD viscoelastic fluid flow over a non-
isothermal stretching sheet. Int. J. Engng. Sci. 42, 935–946 (2004).
[6] Nazar, R., Amin, N., Filip, D., Pop, I.: Unsteady boundary layer flow in the region of the
stagnation point on a stretching sheet. Int. J. Engng. Sci. 42, 1241–1253 (2004).
[7] Sadeghy, K., Sharifi, M.: Local similarity solution for the flow of a second grade viscoelastic fluid
above a moving plate. Int. J. Non-linear Mech. 39, 1265–1273 (2004).
[8] Ariel, P. D.: Axisymmetric flow of a second grade fluid past a stretching sheet. Int. J. Engng. Sci.
39, 529–553 (2001).
[9] Liao, S. J.: Beyond perturbation: introduction to homotopy analysis method. Boca Raton:
Chapman Hall, CRC Press 2003.
[10] Liao, S. J.: On the homotopy analysis method for nonlinear problems. Appl. Math. Comput. 147,
499–513 (2004).
[11] Liao, S. J.: A uniformly valid analytic solution of 2D viscous flow past a semi-infinite flat plate.
J. Fluid Mech. 385, 101–128 (1999).
[12] Liao, S. J., Campo, A.: Analytic solutions of the temperature distribution in Blasius viscous flow
problems. J. Fluid Mech. 453, 411–425 (2002).
[13] Liao, S. J.: On the analytic solution of magnetohydrodynamic flows of non-Newtonian fluids over
a stretching sheet. J. Fluid Mech. 488, 189–212 (2003).
[14] Liao, S. J., Cheung, K. F.: Homotopy analysis of nonlinear progressive waves in deep water.
J. Engng. Math. 45, 105–116 (2003).
[15] Liao, S. J., Pop, I.: Explicit analytic solution for similarity boundary layer equations. Int. J. Heat
Mass Transfer 46, 1855–1860 (2004).
[16] Ayub, M., Rasheed, A., Hayat, T.: Exact flow of a third grade fluid past a porous plate using
homotopy analysis method. Int. J. Engng. Sci. 41, 2091–2103 (2003).
Axisymmetric flow of a third-grade fluid 205

[17] Hayat, T., Khan, M., Ayub, M.: On the explicit analytic solutions of an Oldroyd 6-constant fluid.
Int. J. Engng. Sci. 42, 123–135 (2004).
[18] Hayat, T., Khan, M., Ayub, M.: Couette and Poiseuille flows of an Oldroyd 6-constant fluid with
magnetic field. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 298, 225–244 (2004).
[19] Hayat, T., Khan, M., Asghar, S.: Homotopy analysis of MHD flows of an Oldroyd 8-constant
fluid. Acta Mech. 168, 213–232 (2004).
[20] Yang, C., Liao, S. J.: On the explicit purely analytic solution of Von Karman swirling viscous flow.
Comm. Non-linear Sci. Numer. Sim. 11, 83–93 (2006).
[21] Liao, S. J.: A new branch of solutions of boundary-layer flows over an impermeable stretched
plate. Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer 48, 2529–2539 (2005).
[22] Liao, S. J.: An analytic solution of unsteady boundary-layer flows caused by an impulsively
stretching plate. Comm. Non-linear Sci. Numer. Sim. 11, 326–339 (2006).
[23] Cheng, J., Liao, S. J., Pop, I.: Analytic series solution for unsteady mixed convection boundary
layer flow near the stagnation point on a vertical surface in a porous medium. Transport in Porous
Media 61, 365–379 (2005).
[24] Xu, H., Liao, S. J.: Series solutions of unsteady magnetohydrodynamic flows of non-Newtonian
fluids caused by an impulsively stretching plate. J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 129, 46–55 (2005).
[25] Fosdick, R. L., Rajagopal, K. R.: Thermodynamics and stability of fluids of third grade. Proc.
Roy. Soc. London A 339, 351–377 (1980).

Authors’ addresses: M. Sajid, Theoretical Plasma Physics Division, PINSTECH, P.O. Nilore,
Islamabad 44000, Pakistan (E-mail: sajidqau2002@yahoo.com); T. Hayat and S. Asghar, Depart-
ment of Mathematics, Quaid-I-Azam University 45320, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan (E-mail:
t_pensy@hotmail.com); S. Asghar, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, H-8,
Islamabad 44000, Pakistan