Stagnation-Point Flow Towards a Heated Stretching Sheet with Variable Fluid Viscosity

The influence of temperature-dependent fluid viscosity on a steady stagnation-point flow over a heated stretching sheet is investigated. The fluid viscosity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. A scaling group of transformations is applied to the governing equations of motion and energy. Using the invariants, third-and second-order ordinary differential equations corresponding to the momentum and energy equations are obtained. These equations are then solved numerically. It is found that the horizontal velocity increases with the increasing value of the ratio of the free-stream velocity ax and the stretching velocity cx, but the temperature decreases in this case. The important findings of the present study are that at a particular point of the heated stretching sheet, the fluid viscosity decreases with an increase of the temperature-dependent fluid viscosity parameter A near the stagnation point when the free-stream velocity is less than the stretching velocity, but with increasing ', the horizontal velocity increases in this case with the increasing temperaturedependent fluid viscosity parameter A. When the free-stream velocity is greater than the stretching velocity, the opposite behavior of horizontal velocity is noted.