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Slender body theory for particles with non-circular cross-sections with application to particle dynamics in shear flows
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2019
Abstract
This paper presents a theory to obtain the force per unit length acting on a slender filament with a non-circular cross-section moving in a fluid at low Reynolds number. Using a regular perturbation of the inner solution, we show that the force per unit length has $O(1/\ln (2A))+O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}/\ln ^{2}(2A))$ contributions driven by the relative motion of the particle and the local fluid velocity and an
$O(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}/(\ln (2A)A))$ contribution driven by the gradient in the imposed fluid velocity. Here, the aspect ratio (
$A=l/a_{0}$) is defined as the ratio of the particle size (
$l$) to the cross-sectional dimension (
$a_{0}$) and
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ is the amplitude of the non-circular perturbation. Using thought experiments, we show that two-lobed and three-lobed cross-sections affect the response to relative motion and velocity gradients, respectively. A two-dimensional Stokes flow calculation is used to extend the perturbation analysis to cross-sections that deviate significantly from a circle (i.e.
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\sim O(1)$). We demonstrate the ability of our method to accurately compute the resistance to translation and rotation of a slender triaxial ellipsoid. Furthermore, we illustrate novel dynamics of straight rods in a simple shear flow that translate and rotate quasi-periodically if they have two-lobed cross-section, and rotate chaotically and translate diffusively if they have a combination of two- and three-lobed cross-sections. Finally, we show the remarkable ability of our theory to accurately predict the motion of rings, retaining great accuracy for moderate aspect ratios (
${\sim}10$) and cross-sections that deviate significantly from a circle, thereby making our theory a computationally inexpensive alternative to other Stokes flow solvers.
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- JFM Papers
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- © 2019 Cambridge University Press
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