Analytical Solutions to the Unsteady Poiseuille Flow of a Second Grade Fluid with Slip Boundary Conditions

This paper deals with an initial-boundary value problem modeling the unidirectional pressure-driven flow of a second grade fluid in a plane channel with impermeable solid walls. On the channel walls, Navier-type slip boundary conditions are stated. Our aim is to investigate the well-posedness of this problem and obtain its analytical solution under weak regularity requirements on a function describing the velocity distribution at initial time. In order to overcome difficulties related to finding classical solutions, we propose the concept of a generalized solution that is defined as the limit of a uniformly convergent sequence of classical solutions with vanishing perturbations in the initial data. We prove the unique solvability of the problem under consideration in the class of generalized solutions. The main ingredients of our proof are a generalized Abel criterion for uniform convergence of function series and the use of an orthonormal basis consisting of eigenfunctions of the related Sturm-Liouville problem. As a result, explicit expressions for the flow velocity and the pressure in the channel are established. The constructed analytical solutions favor a better understanding of the qualitative features of time-dependent flows of polymer fluids and can be applied to the verification of relevant numerical, asymptotic, and approximate analytical methods.