Non-Newtonian Pressure-Governed Rivulet Flows on Inclined Surface

Abstract

We have generalized, in the current study, the results of research presented earlier with the aim of obtaining an approximate solution for the creeping, plane-parallel flow of viscoplastic non-Newtonian fluid where the focus is on the study of rivulet fluid flows on an inclined surface. Namely, profiles of velocity of flow have been considered to be given in the same form as previously (i.e., Gaussian-like, non-stationary solutions) but with a novel type of pressure field p. The latter has been chosen for solutions correlated explicitly with the critical maximal non-zero level of stress τs in the shared plane layer of rivulet flow, when it begins to move as viscous flow (therefore, we have considered here the purely non-Newtonian case of viscoplastic flow). Correlating phenomena such as the above stem from the equations of motion of viscoplastic non-Newtonian fluid considered along with the continuity equation. We have obtained a governing sub-system of two partial differential equations of the first order for two functions, p and τs. As a result, a set of new semi-analytical solutions are presented and graphically plotted.