Momentum and heat transfer of the Falkner-Skan flow with algebraic decay: An analytical solution

In this paper, an analytical solution of the Falkner-Skan equation with mass transfer and wall movement is obtained for a special case, namely a velocity power index of -1/3, with an algebraically decaying velocity profile. The solution is given in a closed form. Under different values of the mass transfer parameter, the wall can be fixed, moving in the same direction as the free stream, or opposite to the free stream (reversal flow near the wall). The thermal boundary layer solution is also presented with a closed form for a prescribed power-law wall temperature, which is expressed by the confluent hypergeometric function of the second kind. The temperature profiles and the wall temperature gradients are plotted. Interesting but complicated variation trends for certain combinations of controlling parameters are observed. Under certain parameter combinations, there exist singular points or poles for the wall temperature gradients, namely wall heat flux. With poles, the temperature profiles can cross the zero temperature line and become negative. From the results, it is also found empirically that under certain given values of the Prandtl number (Pr) and flow controlling parameter (b), the number of times for the temperature profiles crossing the zero line is the same as the number of poles when the wall temperature power index varies between zero and a given value n. The current result provides a new analytical solution for the Falkner-Skan equation with algebraic decay and greatly enriches the understanding of this important equation as well as the heat transfer characteristics for this flow.