Paper 4, Section II, A

Fluid Dynamics
Part II, 2019

(a) Show that the Stokes flow around a rigid moving sphere has the minimum viscous dissipation rate of all incompressible flows which satisfy the no-slip boundary conditions on the sphere.

(b) Let u=(xΦ+χ)2Φ\boldsymbol{u}=\boldsymbol{\nabla}(\boldsymbol{x} \cdot \boldsymbol{\Phi}+\chi)-2 \boldsymbol{\Phi}, where Φ\boldsymbol{\Phi} and χ\chi are solutions of Laplace's equation, i.e. 2Φ=0\nabla^{2} \boldsymbol{\Phi}=\mathbf{0} and 2χ=0\nabla^{2} \chi=0.

(i) Show that u\boldsymbol{u} is incompressible.

(ii) Show that u\boldsymbol{u} satisfies Stokes equation if the pressure p=2μΦp=2 \mu \boldsymbol{\nabla} \cdot \boldsymbol{\Phi}.

(c) Consider a rigid sphere moving with velocity U\boldsymbol{U}. The Stokes flow around the sphere is given by

Φ=αUr and χ=βU(1r)\boldsymbol{\Phi}=\alpha \frac{\boldsymbol{U}}{r} \quad \text { and } \quad \chi=\beta \boldsymbol{U} \cdot \boldsymbol{\nabla}\left(\frac{1}{r}\right)

where the origin is chosen to be at the centre of the sphere. Find the values for α\alpha and β\beta which ensure no-slip conditions are satisfied on the sphere.