Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-mechanics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2009/a/2/b/solution
Past exam of the theoretical mechanics course of the University of Oxford 2009 A 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The Von Mises boundary-layer transformation uses as transverse coordinate. With and , , the chain rule givesThe streamwise advection terms reduce to , so, for where , division by givesContinuity was already enforced by the stream function. Substitute with . Then and , yieldingThe wall coordinate is zero because was set to zero there, and the far condition matches unit external speed. This is the transformed Blasius similarity problem. One must not additionally prescribe a finite : the coordinate change degenerates at the no-slip wall, and the regular physical shear corresponds to near zero. This similarity reduction is obtained for the attached monotone boundary layer assumed in the question.
Existence of a positive normalized profile can also be seen directly. Put and choose . In coordinates the regular initial-value system is , , with . It starts as . For finite positive , keeps positive and , while gives . Consequently , so is integrable at infinity. It follows that increases to a finite positive limit . The rescaled profile satisfies the same equation and has limit one. This supplies the requested similarity solution with both boundary conditions, rather than only its formal differential equation.
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