Computational Analysis of the Non – Linear Boundary Layer Flow over a Flat Plate Using Variational Iterative Method (VIM)

Abstract

This paper applied the variational iterative method to solve the problem of the two-dimensional incompressible laminar boundary layer flow over a flat plat also called the Blasius problem. The problem is governed by the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations which were first transformed into an ordinary differential equation using similarity transforms and the resulting problem solved using variational iterative method. The results obtained for the similarity stream function and velocity were tabulated and were highly comparable in terms of accuracy with that obtained by Ganji et al. (2009) who studied the same problem using the homotopy perturbation technique and results obtained by Blasius. The results were found to be very accurate especially for η ≤ 4 when using the variational iterative method. The method is convenient as it greatly reduces the amount of computational work.