Hydromechanics of low-Reynolds-number flow. Part 3. Motion of a spheroidal particle in quadratic flows

Abstract

Exact solutions in closed form have been found using the singularity method for various quadratic flows of an unbounded incompressible viscous fluid at low Reynolds numbers past a prolate spheroid with an arbitrary orientation with respect to the fluid. The quadratic flows considered here include unidirectional paraboloidal flows, with either an elliptic or a hyperbolic velocity distribution, and stagnation-like quadratic flows as typical representations. The motion of a force-free spheroidal particle in a paraboloidal flow has been determined. It is shown that the spheroid rotates about three principal axes with angular velocities governed by a set of Jeffery orbital equations with the rate of shear evaluated at the centre of the spheroid. These angular velocities depend on the minor-to-major axis ratio of the spheroid and its instantaneous orientation, but are independent of its actual size. The spheroid also translates at a variable speed, depending on its orientation relative to the surrounding fluid, along a straight path parallel to the main flow direction without any side drift or migration. This ‘jerk’ motion obeys a trajectory equation which is size dependent.