A collocation finite element-finite difference solution for developing isothermal flow between two parallel plates

This paper presents a finite element-finite difference method for the solution of the boundary layer equations for developing flow between two parallel plates. Due to the parabolic nature of the equations it was possible to discretize the transverse flow direction with one-dimensional Hermite cubic finite elements and the axial flow direction with a backward finite difference approximation. The collocation finite element-finite difference approximation was found to be appropriate for the modeling of the non-linear convection terms in the axial momentum equation. The resulting system of mixed linear and non-linear algebraic equations was solved using the Newton-Raphson method. Several numerical experiments were conducted to study the behavior of the solution with respect to the element size and number, order of finite difference approximation, and the marching step size.