Journal of Theoretical
and Applied Mechanics

37, 2, pp. 301-318, Warsaw 1999

Flow past a sphere moving towards a wall in micropolar fluid

Anna Kucaba-Piętal
The paper presents the first ''exact'' solution to the problem of creeping flow past a sphere moving towards a wall in micropolar fluid. The analytical-numerical method is presented, that is a development of the boundary collocation technique previously used for solving many corresponding problems for a Newtonian fluid. The initial study of the method has been carried out and the results for a force acting on a sphere compared with their counterparts for a Newtonian fluid are presented. It is worth while to note that the drag force on a sphere depends on material constants of the micropolar fluid and the distance from the wall.
Keywords: non-Newtonian fluid; collocation method; Stokes flow; micropolar fluid