Viscous drop in compressional Stokes flow

Abstract

AbstractThe dynamics of the deformation of a drop in axisymmetric compressional viscous flow is addressed through analytical and numerical analyses for a variety of capillary numbers, $\mathit{Ca}$, and viscosity ratios, $\lambda $. For low $Ca$, the drop is approximated by an oblate spheroid, and an analytical solution is obtained in terms of spheroidal harmonics; whereas, for the case of equal viscosities ($\lambda = 1$), the velocity field within and outside a drop of a given shape admits an integral representation, and steady shapes are found in the form of Chebyshev series. For arbitrary $Ca$ and $\lambda $, exact steady shapes are evaluated numerically via an integral equation. The critical $\mathit{Ca}$, below which a steady drop shape exists, is established for various $\lambda $. Remarkably, in contrast to the extensional flow case, critical steady shapes, being flat discs with rounded rims, have similar degrees of deformation ($D\sim 0. 75$) for all $\lambda $ studied. It is also shown that for almost the entire range of $\mathit{Ca}$ and $\lambda $, the steady shapes have accurate two-parameter approximations. The validity and implications of spheroidal and two-parameter shape approximations are examined in comparison to the exact steady shapes.