Singular Nonlinear Problems for Phase Trajectories of Some Self-Similar Solutions of Boundary Layer Equations: Correct Formulation, Analysis, and Calculations

We study a singular initial value problem for a nonlinear non-autonomous ordinary differential equation of the second order, defined on a semi-infinite interval and degenerating in the initial data for the phase variable. The problem arises in the dynamics of a viscous incompressible fluid as an auxiliary problem in the study of self-similar solutions of the boundary layer equations for a stream function with a zero pressure gradient (plane-parallel laminar flow in a mixing layer). It is also of independent mathematical interest. Using the previously obtained results on singular nonlinear Cauchy problems and parametric exponential Lyapunov series, a correct formulation and a complete mathematical analysis of this singular initial value problem are given. Restrictions on the “self-similarity parameter” for the global existence of solutions are formulated, two-sided estimates of solutions, and results of calculations of the phase trajectories of solutions for different values of this parameter are given.