Hydromagnetic flow of a second grade fluid over a stretching sheet

An analysis is carried out to study the flow characteristics in an electrically conducting second grade fluid permeated by a uniform magnetic field over a stretching sheet. In order to solve the fourth-order non-linear differential equation, a fourth boundary condition is augmented and a proper sign for the normal stress modulus is used. It is observed that for a physical flow problem the solution is unique. The exact solutions for the velocity fields for various combinations of the parameters M (the magnetic parameter) R (the suction Reynolds number) and lambda(1) (the viscoelastic parameter) are obtained. Furthermore, numerical solutions for the velocity components are obtained and discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.