MHD flows of UCM fluids above porous stretching sheets using two-auxiliary-parameter homotopy analysis method

The performance of a two-auxiliary-parameter homotopy analysis method (HAM) is investigated in solving laminar MHD flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid (UCM) above a porous isothermal stretching sheet. The analysis is carried out up to the 20th-order of approximation, and the effect of parameters such as elasticity number, suction/injection velocity, and magnetic number are studied on the velocity field above the sheet. The results will be contrasted with those reported recently by Hayat et al. [Hayat T, Abbas Z, Sajid M. Series solution for the upper-convected Maxwell fluid over a porous stretching plate. Phys Lett A 358;2006:396-403] obtained using a third-order one-auxiliary-parameter homotopy analysis method. It is concluded that the flow reversal phenomenon as predicted by Hayat et al. (2006) may have arisen because of the inadequacies of using just one-auxiliary-parameter in their analysis. That is, no flow reversal is predicted to occur if instead of using one-auxiliary-parameter use is made of two auxiliary parameters together with a more convenient set of base functions to assure the convergence of the series used to solve the highly nonlinear ODE governing the flow. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.