Rajagopal, K. R.; Szeri, A. Z.; Troy, W. An existence theorem for the flow of a non-Newtonian fluid past an infinite porous plate. (English) Zbl 0599.76013 Int. J. Non-Linear Mech. 21, 279-289 (1986). Non-Newtonian fluid mechanics affords an excellent opportunity for studying many of the mathematical methods which have been developed to analyze nonlinear problems in mechanics. The flow of an incompressible fluid of grade three past an infinite porous flat plate, subject to suction at the plate, is governed by a nonlinear differenial equation that is particularly well suited to demonstrate the power and usefulness of three such techniques. We establish an existence theorem using shooting methods. Next we investigate the problem using a perturbation analysis. It is not clear that the perturbation solution converges and thus may not be the appropriate solution for a certain range of a material constant (which is not the perturbation parameter). Finally, we employ a numerical method which is particularly suited to the problem in question. Cited in 45 Documents MSC: 76A05 Non-Newtonian fluids 76S05 Flows in porous media; filtration; seepage 76M99 Basic methods in fluid mechanics Keywords:incompressible fluid of grade three; infinite porous flat plate; nonlinear differenial equation; existence theorem; shooting methods; perturbation analysis PDF BibTeX XML Cite \textit{K. R. Rajagopal} et al., Int. J. Non-Linear Mech. 21, 279--289 (1986; Zbl 0599.76013) Full Text: DOI OpenURL