Non-uniform slot injection (suction) into steady laminar water boundary layer flow over a rotating sphere

The influence of non-uniform slot injection (suction) into steady axi-symmetric laminar incompressible boundary layer flows with temperature dependent viscosity and Prandtl number has been examined from the origin of the streamwise coordinate to the exact point of separation. The difficulties in obtaining the non-similar solutions at the origin of the streamwise coordinate, at the edges of the slot and at the point of separation have been overcome by applying an implicit finite difference scheme with the quasilinearization technique and an appropriate selection of finer step size along the streamwise coordinate. The results indicate that the separation can be delayed by non-uniform slot suction and also by moving the slot downstream but the effect of non-uniform slot injection is just the opposite. Further, the effect of variable fluid properties is to move the point of separation downstream but rotation parameter has the reverse effect. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.