Three-Dimensional Stagnation Flow and Heat Transfer of a Viscous, Compressible Fluid on a Flat Plate

The steady-state three-dimensional flow and heat transfer of a viscous, compressible fluid in the vicinity of stagnation point region on a flat plate with constant wall temperature is investigated by similarity solution approach, taking into account the variation of density of the fluid with respect to temperature. The free stream, along z-direction, impinges on the flat plate to produce a flow with different velocity components. An exact solution of the problem is obtained for the three dimensional case by the reduction of the Navier–Stokes and energy equations using appropriate similarity transformations introduced for the first time. The nonlinear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically using a finite difference scheme. Computations have been conducted for different values of the parameters characterizing the problem. The obtained results show that increasing the value of compressibility factor and wall temperature both cause the value of the velocity components and temperature gradients and pressure gradients in the vicinity of the plate to increase.