A general class of coupled nonlinear differential equations arising in self-similar solutions of convective heat transfer problems

We establish existence and uniqueness results for a general class of coupled nonlinear third order differential equations arising in flow and heat transfer problems. We consider solutions over the semi-infinite interval. As special cases, we recover the existence and uniqueness results of solutions for the following physically meaningful scenarios (among others): (i) flow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet, (ii) flow and heat transfer over a nonlinearly stretching porous sheet, (iii) linear convective flow and heat transfer over a porous nonlinearly stretching sheet and (iv) nonlinear convective heat transfer over a porous nonlinearly stretching sheet. In all the cases the effects of viscous dissipation and the internal heat generation/absorption on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are included. Moreover, the obtained results are applicable to several problems dealing with flow and heat transfer phenomena. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.