Numerical solution of the Falkner-Skan equation using third-order and high-order-compact finite difference schemes

We present a computational study of the solution of the Falkner-Skan equation (a thirdorder boundary value problem arising in boundary-layer theory) using high-order and high-order-compact finite differences schemes. There are a number of previously reported solution approaches that adopt a reduced-order system of equations, and numerical methods such as: shooting, Taylor series, Runge-Kutta and other semi-analytic methods. Interestingly, though, methods that solve the original non-reduced third-order equation directly are absent from the literature. Two high-order schemes are presented using ...