A generalized traction integral equation for Stokes flow, with applications to near-wall particle mobility and viscous erosion

Abstract

A double-layer integral equation for the surface tractions on a body moving in a viscous fluid is derived which allows for the incorporation of a background flow and/or the presence of a plane wall. The Lorentz reciprocal theorem is used to link the surface tractions on the body to integrals involving the background velocity and stress fields on an imaginary bounding sphere (or hemisphere for wall-bounded flows). The derivation requires the velocity and stress fields associated with numerous fundamental singularity solutions which we provide for free-space and wall-bounded domains. Two sample applications of the method are discussed: we study the tractions on an ellipsoid moving near a plane wall, which provides a more detailed understanding of the well-studied glancing and reversing trajectories in the context of particle sedimentation, and the erosion of bodies by a viscous flow, in which the surface is ablated at a rate proportional to the local viscous shear stress. Simulations and analytical estimates suggest that a spherical body in a uniform flow first reduces nearly but not exactly to the drag minimizing profile and then vanishes in finite time. The shape dynamics of an eroding body in a shear flow and near a wall are also investigated. Stagnation points on the body surface lead generically to the formation of cusps, whose number depends on the flow configuration and/or the presence of nearby boundaries.