Slender body theory for particles with non-circular cross-sections with application to particle dynamics in shear flows

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.