Self-similar "stagnation point" boundary layer flows with suction or injection

Abstract

Multiple solutions are reported for the two-dimensional boundary layer flow of a viscous fluid near a permeable wall through which fluid is uniformly withdrawn. In the limit of large wall suction, three flows of similarity form are found: the first is the well-known monotonic solution of Terrill; the second exhibits flow reversal, with the streamlines being separated into three distinct cells; the third also exhibits flow reversal, but has multiple cells only when the fluid withdrawal speed is less than some threshold. The wall injection problem is also briefly studied, only Terrill's branch of solutions being found. Numerical and asymptotic solutions are presented and compared; the large-suction asymptotics of the third solution branch are found to be rather subtle.