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Applied Mathematics E-Notes, 11(2011), 133-138 c ISSN 1607-2510

Available free at mirror sites of http://www.math.nthu.edu.tw/ amen/

Traveling Wave Solutions of Burgers’Equation for


Power-Law Non-Newtonian Flows
Dongming Weiy, Harry Bordenz
Received 30 June 2010

Abstract
In this work we present some analytic and semi-analytic traveling wave so-
lutions of a generalized Burgers’ equation for unidirectional ‡ow of power-law
non-Newtonian ‡uids. The solutions include the corresponding well-known trav-
eling wave solution of the Burgers’equation for Newtonian ‡ows. We also derive
estimates of shock thickness for the power-law ‡ows.

1 Introduction
In this work, we are interested in …nding traveling wave solutions to the following
generalized Burgers’equation for power-law ‡uid ‡ows
!
n 1
@u @u @ @u @u
+u = (1)
@t @x @x @x @x

where is the density, the viscosity, u the velocity of the ‡uid in x direction, and
n 6= 1 the power-law index. For n = 1, (1) reduces to the famous Burgers’equation for
Newtonian ‡ows
@u @u @2u
+u = : (2)
@t @x @x2
It is well-known that if we impose boundary conditions

lim u( ) = u2 ; lim u( )) = u1 ; lim u0 ( ) = 0;


! 1 !+1 j j!+1

where u2 > u1 , then (2) has the following celebrated traveling wave solution

u1 + u2 exp[ 2 (u1 u2 )]
u( ) = (3)
1 + exp[ 2 (u1 u2 )]

where = x t, u1 and u2 are downstream and upstream ‡uid velocities respectively.


It can be shown that there exists of a thin transition layer of thickness in the order
Mathematics Subject Classi…cations: 35L67, 76A10, 35Q53.
y Department of Mathematics, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana 70148, USA
z Department of Mathematics, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana 70148, USA

132
D. M. Wei and H. Borden 133

of u22 u1 for ‡ows de…ned by (3). This thickness can be referred to as the shock
thickness, which tends to zero as ! 0 , and for …xed , ! 1 as (u2 u1 ) ! 0.
See, for example, [6] or [7] for derivation of (3) and analysis of (2). In this work, we
…nd analytic and semi-analytic solutions to (1) for various values of n, and we derive
the corresponding order of thickness for the transition layers in the power-law Non-
Newtonian ‡ows. Applications power-law ‡ows are abundant in studying of ‡ows in
glacier, blood, food, oil, polymer etc., see e.g. [3]. There are numerous papers denoted
to study equation (2) in the literature for understanding shock formation and traveling
waves in Newtonian ‡ows dating back to the original papers of Burgers, Hopf, and Cole,
see [6], [8], and [9]. A generalized Burgers’ equation for Non-Newtonian ‡ows based
on the Maxwell model has recently been studied in [7] recently. In this work, we will
show that the corresponding traveling wave solutions to (1) with the same boundary
conditions can be implicitly de…ned by
1=n
1 u u1 1 1 1 u2 u
1 n (u2 u) u2 u 1 2 F1 1 n; n; 2 n ; u2 u1
= 1 1
2 (1 n )[(u u1 )(u2 u)] n

and the …rst order approximation of the thickness of the transition layer is
1=n
8
(u2 u1 ) :
(u2 u1 )2

This result extends the classical result from n = 1 to n 6= 1. We have not found any
paper in the literature which deals with the power-law Burges’s equation (1) for n 6= 1.

2 The Generalized Burgers’Equation for Power-Law


Fluid Flows
The general Navier-Stokes equation for incompressible viscous ‡ows is given by
D~u
=r ~ rp + ~g (4)
Dt
where ~u = (u1 ; u2 ; u3 ) is the ‡uid velocity,
0 1 0 1
11 12 13 11 12 13
=@ 21 22 23 A and D~u = @ 21 22 23 A
31 32 33 31 32 33

are the stress and strain tensor, the density, p the scaler pressure, and ~g the external
@ui @u
force, = 12 ( @x j
+ @xji ); 1 i; j 3: For unidirectional ‡ows, we assume that ~u =
@p
(u1 ; 0; 0); ij = 0 for i 6= 1 or j 6= 1; ~g = (g1 ; 0; 0); and rp = ( @x1
; 0; 0): The Navier-
Stokes equation (4), in this case, takes the following simple form
Du1 @ 11 @p
= + g1 (5)
Dt @x1 @x1
134 Traveling Wave Solutions of Burgers’Equation

where Du @u1 @u1


Dt = @t + u1 @x1 :
1

Rheological relationships between and D~u are frequently used to determine the
type of ‡uids. It is well-known that for power-law ‡uids, the rheological relation is
given by
(n 1)=2
ij = 2Kj2 kl kl j ij ; 1 i; j 3 (6)
where n is called the power-law index, see e.g., [1] or [9]. If n = 1 , then the ‡uid is
said to be a Newtonian ‡uid, and it is non-Newtonian if n 6= 1. For many important
industrial polymer ‡uids, the value of n is between 0 and 1. Table1 provides values of
K and n for some important industrial power-law ‡uids:

Polymer Temperature (Kelvin) K(P asn ) n


Nylon 493 2:62 103 0:63
Polystyrene 463 4:47 103 0.22
Polyethylene 453 4:47 103 0.56

Table 1: Values of K and n

For the unidirectional power-law ‡ows, (6) reduces to 11 = 2n Kj 11 j(n 1) 11 . Let


u1 ; x1 ; g1 ; and 2n K be denoted by u; x; g and respectively. Then from (5), we have
the equation for the unidirectional power-law ‡ows

@u @u @ @u @p
+u = +g (7)
@t @x @x @x @x
@p
where (t) = jtjn 1 t; 0 < n < 1: In (7), let = , and let @x + g = 0, we then have
the generalized Burgers’equation for power-law ‡uids

@u @u @ @u
+u = ( ) (8)
@t @x @x @x
We are interested in …nding solutions of (8) for n 6= 1.

3 Traveling Wave Solutions


@u @u @u @u
Let u(x; t) = u( ) , with =x t . Then @t = @ , @x = @ ; and equation (8)
becomes
@u @u @ @u
+u = (9)
@ @ @ @
Therefore,
@ 1 2 du
u u =0
@ 2 d
which gives
1 2 du
u u =A
2 d
D. M. Wei and H. Borden 135

in which A is the integration constant. Applying the downstream and upstream bound-
ary conditions: lim !+1 u( ) = u1 ; lim ! 1 u( ) = u2 ; limj j!+1 u0 ( ) = 0 we get

du 1 2 1
= (u 2 u 2A) = (u u1 )(u u2 )
d 2 2
1
where = 12 (u1 + u2 ), and A = 1
2 u1 u2 . Since 1
(t) = jtj( n 1)
t, we have
1
du 1 1 1 n
1
= (u u1 )(u u2 ) = ((u u1 )(u u2 ))
d 2 2

Therefore Z Z
du 1 1

1 ((u
= n d (10)
u1 )(u u2 )) 2
Without loss of generality, in the following, we assume that u2 > u > u1 . For n = 1,
(10) gives
Z
1 du 1 u u1
= = ln
2 (u u1 )(u u2 ) u1 u2 u2 u
which gives the celebrated traveling wave solution
h i
u1 + u2 exp 2 (u 2 u 1 )
u( ) = h i
1 + exp 2 (u 2 u 1 )

to the Burgers’ equation for Newtonian ‡ows. In the following, we are interested in
…nding solutions to (10) for n 6= 1. By using Mathematica, we …nd that
1=n
Z (u2 u) u u1
2 F1 1 1 1 1 u2 u
du u2 u1 n; n; 2 n ; u2 u1
1 ((u
= 1 1 (11)
u1 )(u u2 )) (1 n )[(u u1 )(u2 u)] n

where 2 F1 is the well-known Gauss hypogeometric function de…ned by the series


1
X (a; k)(b:k)
2 F1 (a; b; c; x) = xk ; jxj < 1
(c; k)
k=0

where (a; k) = a(a + 1):::(a + k 1) is the Appel symbol, see e.g. [2]. Therefore, from
(11), we have the following power series solution to the generalized power-law Burgers’
equation
1
s
1
n n (u2 u)n 1 X (1 n1 ; k)( n1 ; k) u2 u
k
1 n
= ;
2 n 1 u2 u1
k=0
(2 n1 ; k)k! u2 u1

where n 6= 1; j uu22 u
u1 j < 1:
136 Traveling Wave Solutions of Burgers’Equation

It is interesting to note that for some special values of n, the integral (10) can be
expressed in terms of elementary functions. In particular, for n = 12 , we have
Z
du
2
=
(2 ) ((u u1 )(u2 u))2
1 1 1 2 u2 u
= 2
+ + 3
ln
(u2 u1 ) u u2 u u1 (u1 u2 ) u u1
for n = 13 , we have
Z
du 3 1 1
= =
(2 )3 ((u u1 )(u2 u))3 (u2 u1 )4
u u2 u u1
1 1 1 6 u2 u
+ + ln
2(u1 u2 )3 (u u2 )2 (u u1 )2 (u2 u1 )5 u u1
for n = 2, u2 > u > u1 , by using the identity z2 F1 (1=2; 1=2=; 3=2; z 2 ) = a arcsin z and
(11), we also get
1=2 Z 1=2
1 du u2 u u2 u
= = 2 2 F1 1=2; 1=2=; 3=2;
2 ((u u1 )(u2 u))1=2 u u1 u u1
1=2
u2 u
= 2 arcsin
u u1
respectively. Therefore, we have the following three traveling wave solutions for the
three special values of n:
1 1 1 2 u2 u 1
= ( ) ln ; for n = ;
(2 )2 (u2 u1 )2 u2 u u u1 (u1 u2 )3 u u1 2

3 1 1 1 1 1
= ( + )+
(2 )3 (u2 u1 )4 u2 u u u1 2(u2 u1 )3 (u u2 )2 (u u1 )2
6 u2 u
ln
(u2 u1 )5 u u1
for n = 13 ; and
1=2 1=2
1 u2 u
= 2 arcsin for n = 2
2 u u1
More analytic solutions in terms of elementary functions for special values of n can
be derived and they are not listed here due to limited spaces. We have omitted the
integration constants in the above solutions. For simplicity, let u1 = 1; u2 = 1;
pro…les of the transition layers for three special cases are given in Figure 1, with u
versus ( 21 )1=n : These three cases represent Newtonian (n = 1), Non-Newtonian shear-
thinning (n < 1), and Non-Newtonian shear-thickening ‡uid ‡ows (n > 1) respectively.
In Figure 1, solid thick line represents the Newtonian ‡uids, the solid thin line
represents the shear thickening ‡uids, and the dash line represents the shear thinning
‡uids.
D. M. Wei and H. Borden 137

0.5

1.5 1.0 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.5

0.5

Figure 1: Transition layers

4 The Order of Thickness of the Transition Layers


The transition layer thickness or the shock thickness can be estimated by using the
…rst order derivative du
d (0). From
1
du 1 1 1 n
1
= (u u1 )(u u2 ) = ((u u1 )(u u2 ))
d 2 2
u1 +u2
and u(0) = 2 we get
1=n
du (u2 u1 )2
(0) =
d 8
Let denote the thickness of the transition layer. Using the Taylor expansion, we have
du
u2 u1 u u = (0) + O( 2 )
2 2 d
Therefore, we have
1=n
8
= (u2 u1 )
(u2 u1 )2
which is the …rst order approximation of the thickness of the transition layer for the
power-law ‡ows. This estimate, for n = 1, gives the well-known estimate for the
thickness of the transition layer of the Newtonian ‡ows.

5 Conclusions
In this work, we have derived a generalized Burgers’equation for the power-law ‡ows,
and we also derive a new general traveling wave solution of this equation in terms of
138 Traveling Wave Solutions of Burgers’Equation

the Gauss hypergeometric function. As special cases of this general solution, we show
several analytic solutions in terms of elementary functions as well as the pro…les of
the transition layers of the solutions. We de…ned a …rst order approximation of the
thickness of the transition layer or thickness of the shock for the generalized Burgers’
equation. The results generalize the known solution and shock-layer estimate for the
Newtonian ‡ows.

References
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