Fluid flow over a nonlinearly stretching sheet

Numerical solutions are obtained for a class of nonlinear third order differential equations arising in fluid flows over a nonlinearly stretching sheet, using a similarity transformation which is different from that of the linearly stretching sheet problem. Furthermore, using the Schauder theory, existence of a solution of the third order differential equation over a large but finite interval is established. Moreover, the analytical solutions are obtained and are compared with the corresponding numerical solutions. The results obtained for the flow characteristics reveal many interesting behaviors that warrant further study of the effects of nonlinear stretching on the flow characteristics. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.