On the similarity solutions of magnetohydrodynamic flows of power-law fluids over a stretching sheet (Q874932)

An analysis is given for a magnetohydrodynamic boundary-layer problem, which arises in the two-dimensional steady laminar boundary-layer flow of incompressible electrically conducting power-law fluid along a stretching flat sheet in the presence of an exterior magnetic field orthogonal to the flow. In the self-similar case, the problem is transformed into a third-order nonlinear ordinary differential equation with certain boundary conditions, which is proved to be equivalent to a singular initial value problem for an integro-differential equation of first order. With the aid of the singular initial value problem, uniqueness and existence results for normal solutions are established, and some properties of these solutions are explored.