Closed-form meromorphic solutions of some third order boundary layer ordinary differential equations

Abstract

We introduce a general third order non-linear autonomous ODE which covers many ODEs coming from boundary layer problems, like the Falkner-Skan equation and the Cheng-Minkowycz equation. Using Wiman-Valiron theory and complex analytic methods recently developed, for the generic cases, it is shown that all their meromorphic solutions must be rational, or rational in one exponential, and then we find all of them explicitly. For a few non-generic cases, some solutions, which are meromorphic or singlevalued, are also obtained. Our results also explain why it is so difficult to obtain new closed-form solutions of the Falkner-Skan equation.