ACTA MECHANICA SINICA, Vo1.19, No.

4, August 2003 ISSN 0567-7718

The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Chinese Journal of Mechanics Press, Beijing, China
Allerton Press, INC., New York, U.S.A.

EXACT SOLUTIONS OF A DIPOLAR FLUID FLOW

T. HAYATt
(Department of Mathematics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan)

A B S T R A C T : Exact solutions for three canonical flow problems of a dipolar fluid are obtained: (i)
The flow of a dipolar fluid due to a suddenly accelerated plate, (ii) The flow generated by periodic
oscillation of a plate, (iii) The flow due to plate oscillation in the presence of a transverse magnetic
field. The solutions of some interesting flows caused by an arbitrary velocity of the plate and of certain
special oscillations are Mso obtained.

K E Y W O R D S : unsteady flows, dipolar fluid, periodic oscillations, MHD flow

1 INTRODUCTION nonlinear stability problem in the case where a layer

In 1967, Blenstein and Green Ill presented the
theory of dipolar fluid, the simplest example of a class
of non-Newtonian fluids known as multipolar fluids.
Dipolar fluids are a special case of fluids with a de-
formable microstructure[ 2J. This microstructure m a y
consist of such entities as bubbles, atoms, particulate
matter, ions or other suspended bodies. In the dipo-
lar fluid theory, the effects of this microstructure are
manifested through the presence of material constants
known as the dipolar constants, and the dipolar b o d y
forces in the equations of motion.
After the initiation by Bleustein and Green Ill
there has been much work on the flow of a dipolar
fluid. Owing to mathematical difficulties, most of
t h e m include restrictions in the course of their the-
oretical development. In Ref.[1] Bleustein and Green
has discussed the Poiseuille flow in a capillary tube.
The slow flow of a dipolar fluid past a sphere has been
investigated by Hills [a] . The flows of a dipolar fluid be-
tween two coaxial right circular cylinders of different
radii and between two parallel plates have been stud-
ied by Shirkot [41 and Erdogan and Gurgoze [5], respec-
tively. Green and Naghdi [6] established a new form
of dipolar inertia. In Ref.[7] Hills established t h a t the
solutions in which the velocity and velocity gradients
are prescribed on the boundary are unique, provided
t h a t the second velocity gradients remain bounded.
Guram[ 8] discussed the flow of a dipolar fluid due to
a plate, initially at rest, which moves in its own plane
with a constant velocity V0. Straughan [9] studied the
Received 13 May 2002, revised 10 January 2003
t E-maih t-pensy@hotmail.com
of dipolar fluid is heated from below. Jordan [i~ dis-
cussed Stoke's first and second problems for a dipolar
fluid. J o r d a n and Purl[ ill have found exact solutions
for the flow of a dipolar fluid on a suddenly acceler-
ated flat plate.
The purpose of the present study is three fold.
Firstly to discuss the unsteady, laminar and dipolar
incompressible flow of a fluid due to a suddenly ac-
celerated flat plate. Secondly, to discuss in detail the
flow of a dipolar fluid generated by periodic oscilla-
tions of a plate. Thirdly, to investigate the influence
of a uniform transverse magnetic field on the flow of
an electrically conducting fluid due to arbitrary pe-
riodic oscillations of a plate in its own plane. The
paper is organized in the following fashion. In section
2, the initial boundary value problem is formulated.
Using the Laplace transform technique, the solution
of the problem is presented in section 3 for d =/[s]. In
section 4, two particular cases are discussed when the
velocity of the plate is Vof(t) where (i) f(t) = 5(t), (ii)
C
f(t)--2 "v,0~
/ ~ - ~ e x p ~ - -~-t ) " In section 5, a complete
description of the general .class of flow problems due
to arbitrary periodic oscillations of a rigid plate is pre-
sented. For the periodic oscillations we can construct
the Fourier transform directly from its Fourier series
representation. The resulting Fourier transform for a
periodic oscillation consists of a train of impulses in
the frequency domain, with the areas of the impulses
proportional to the Fourier series coefficients. This
will turn out to be a very important representation
Vol.19, No.4 Hayat T: Exact Solutions of a Dipolar Fluid Flow 309

as it will facilitate our treatment of the application stress t e n s o r ~jjk are [6]
of Fourier analysis techniques to problems of modula-
tion. A general periodic oscillation f(t) with period "rid + ~55~y= 2#dlj (3)
To is considered. The response of oscillations in the E(ij)k ~ihjk + ~jhik = hlhijAk,~m+
flow field can be built up using a Fourier series rep-
resentation and the temporal Fourier transform. The h~(Aijk + Adik) + h3Akji (4)
exact analytical solution for the flow due to rigid plate
where hq(q = 1, 2, 3) are material constants, ~ and ~i
oscillations is obtained. The flow fields due to certain
are arbitrary functions that govern the pressure and
special values of oscillations is then derived as a spe-
arise from the solenoidal nature of the velocity field,
cial case of the periodic oscillations. In section 6, the
5iy is the Kronecker delta,
boundary value problem which includes the effects of
the magnetic field is formulated. The solution of this "ro = ~i~ + r~kO,k + p(ei~ - ri~) = "rji (5)
problem along with the flow fields due to certain spe-
cial values of oscillations are given in section 7. Aijk = vi,dk = Aikj (6)
1
dis = ~(vi,j + vd#) = ddi (7)
2 PHYSICAL MODEL AND MATHEMATI-
CAL FORMULATION and E(ij)k are the components of the dipolar stress
tensor which are symmetric in the first two indices,
Taking the positive y-axis of a Cartesian coor-
crij is the monopolar stress tensor, and Fij is the dipo-
dinate system in the upward direction, let an incom-
lar inertia. The dipolar inertia Fij given by Bleustein
pressible dipolar fluid fill the half space y > 0 above
and Green [1] is
an infinite flat plate occupying the xz-plane. Initially,
both the fluid and plate are at rest. The flow is in- d
v vj,kvk#) (8)
duced by the motion of the plate along the x-axis with : 0,-
velocity Vof(t), where V0 is a constant, f(t) is an ar- while Green and Naghdi [61 proposed
bitrary function of t and f(t) = 0 for time t < 0. The
d
physical variables are functions of y and t and no flow v vj,kvi,k +vk,ivk,j) (9)
occurs in the y- and z-directions. The flow velocity at
a given point in the fluid depends only on the distance The pressure p and dipolar constants 12 a r e defined as
from the point to the plate and the time.
hi + h3
The equations of continuity and momentum gov- p= ~-2~i,i l 2= >=0 (10)
#
erning a homogeneous isothermal, isotropic, incom-
and the materiM constants must satisfy the following
pressible dipolar fluid are given by Ref.[1] as follows
inequalities

vi,i = 0 (1) p _> 0 2hl + h3 _->0 2h2 + h3 =_>0

(11)
~(1 - F V 2 ) V % k + p(gk - ~ k , 5 ) - p,k h3-h2 =>0 5h1-h2+2h3=0

d The above partial differential equation is presented in

= ,(1 - d 2 V 2 ) ~ k + p~2(~k,i~i,j+ detail just for the convenience of the readers. Since
physical variables are functions of y and t, the bound-
v k , i % i - vi,kvi,~),j (2)
dry layer equation for the dipolar flow field is

In (1) and (2) v = (u(y,t),O,O) is the velocity field Ou 02u 2 03u 2 04u
vector, p is the density, # is the dynamic viscosity, ot .ySy~-~0-~+~l ~.4=0 (12)
p is the pressure, d and l are nonnegative dipolar where ~ = p/p is the kinematic viscosity, p is the
constants, d/dt is the material derivative and gk and density and all body forces are absent.
Fjk are the monopolar (macroscopic) and dipolar (mi- For the problem in question the conditions on
croscopic) body forces per unit mass, respectively. the flow field are
In this work commas denote partial differentiations
with respect to the space coordinates and the sum-
u(y,O)=O u(0, t ) = V 0 f ( t ) u(~,t)=O
mation convention has been employed. The constitu- M(y,O)=O M(O,t)=Mof(t) M(c~,t)=O
tive equations for the stress tensor ~-ik and the dipolar (13)
310 ACTA MECHANICA SINICA 2003

where C a s e (a) If f(t) = 5(t), then in the transformed

M = #l 2 02u (14) domain F(s) = 1, and Eq.(18) on inversion gives
Oy2
u(y,t) =VoS(t) exp - ~- - ~ - e x p --/-k~- +
is the dipolar stress components and M0 the constant
dipolar stress which is assumed to be known. au y y
212 exp (~2t) [ exp (-- -~erfc ( --
3 SOLUTION OF THE FIRST PROBLEM

Let us suppose that u(y, t) is an arbitrary func- ut +exp -l erfc -2-v ~ +

tion that has a Laplace transform in the variable t. (20)
That is where erfc(.) is the complementary error function, de-
fined by
L{u(y, t)} = W(y, s) =
erfc(r/) = ~ exp(-~2)dfl (21)

L o~ u(y, t)e-~tdt y > 0 s > 0 (15)

Case(b) Whenf(t)--
C
2v/=~exp(-~t )
By applying the Laplace transform termwise to the
partial differential equation (12) and the conditions
F(s) = e x p ( - c v ~ ) (22)
(13), we obtain
Using Eq.(22) in Eq.(18) and then taking Laplace in-
ul 2d4W (u-4- 2 d2W version we arrive at
dy 4 d s)-wz 5- + sW = 0 (16)
fly-
u(y,t) -- Voc c2
w ( o , s) = VoF(s) W(oo, s) = o
d2 2i---~ exp -- 9
pl2d--~W(0 , s) = MoF(s) (17)
d2
~12 h-Sy2w ( ~ , s) = 0 l ] \2~/t

where F(s) denotes the Laplace transform of f(t). exp(CV~erfc( c + u~t)]

The general solution of Eq.(16) satisfying \ I ] \2v~ +
Eq.(17) is au (at)
e~p ~ 9

auF(s)
w(y, s) = [voF(s) - 12(s_ (u/12))] exp (- ~[)-t-
exp - -7- J eric l- ~ +
t / \2x/ut
auF(s)
/2 ( : = ~-fi2)) exp ( -- V/-~B) (18)
f Yl ~ ~ [ Yl /~ ]
exp kT) er'ct~-2x/~§ V -~-JJ (23)
where
M0 where Yl = Y + cx/~
a -- 17o (19)
#
Equation (18) describes the velocity field over the 4 SECOND PROBLEM STATEMENT
plate in the transformed s-plane. However, the so- In this section we suppose that the plate is mak-
lution (18) cannot describe various features of the ing periodic oscillations of the form f(t) with period
boundary layer flows because of the arbitrariness of To. The rigid boundary is having the velocity Vof(t).
the function F(s). Hence, it is necessary to prescribe The Fourier series representation of f(t) is given by
some physical realistic form for f(t). OO

We shall now consider the following two cases: f(t) = E aneinW~ (24)
(a) f(t) = 5(t), where 5(t) is the Dirac delta
function, where
(b) f ( t ) - 2v/~exp -~ ,cisconstant. a n ~ ~00
1 fTo f(t)e-in~~ (25)
Vo1.19, No.4 Hayat T: Exact Solutions of a Dipolar Fluid Flow 311

with non zero fundamental frequency w0 = 27r/To. From (30), (32) and (33) we cart write
Equation (24) is referred to as the synthesis equation
and Eq.(25) as the analysis equation. The coefficients
{an} are the Fourier series coefficients or the spectral
coefficients of f(t). In practice the fluid motion would
iac~ ] }e_y/t -
be set up from rest and for some time after the ini-
tiation of the motion, the flow field contains a "tran-
Iv0 + a iw~/12 j

sient" determined by these initial conditions. It may 27ra ~ a~5(w-nwo).

be shown that the fluid velocity gradually becomes n ~ -- oo
a harmonic function of t with the same frequency as
the velocity of the boundary and only this periodic [1 i~Z-ulF.]e-V/~-/~
iw
(34)
state will be considered here. The governing differen-
tim equation is Eq.(12) with the following boundary Substituting (34) in (28) and then solving the integral
conditions in the resulting expression after using the property of
delta function, we arrive at
u(O, t) = Vof(t) u ( ~ , t) = 0
(26)
M(O, t) = Vof(t) M(o% t) = 0
u(y,t) = n=-o~ an Y o - 12(irtwo P/12 \
where f(t) is given by Eq.(24).
al] ~ an
5 SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM exp(inw~ +-[2n=_o~ (inwo=U/12 )

We attempt to find the solution of the problem g

in section 4 using Fourier transform. So the temporal exp [inwot- (1 + 1) v -.yJ
Fourier transform pair is defined as
inw0 # u/l 2 (35)

fz(y, w) =
F u(y, t)e-i~tdt (27)
Equation (35) gives the complete analytical solution
for the velocity field due to the plate oscillating peri-
u(g, t) = ~ g(y, w)ei~tdw (28) odically in its own plane. As a special case of this os-
oO cillation, the flow field for different plate oscillations
is obtained by an appropriate choice of the Fourier
w being the temporal frequency. From (12), (27) and
coefficients which give rise to different plate oscilla-
the boundary conditions (26) we have
tions. The periodic oscillations and their correspond-
ing Fourier coefficients are given in Table 1.
2 d4fi . d 2- d2~
ul ~y4 - ( u + l w )~y2 + i w ~ = 0 (29)

Table 1 T h e periodic oscillations and t h e i r

~(0, w) = 2r ~ a~5(w - nwo) (30) c o r r e s p o n d i n g Fourier coefficients

Oscillations Fourier coefficients

#l 2 d2~(oo, w) _ 0 (31)
f(t) an
(i) eiw~ al = 1 and as = 0 (n # 1)
1
(ii) cosw0t al=a-l=- ~nda~=O
2
otherwise
3~/(0, w) = 27rMo ~ a~5(w - nwo) = 1
(iii) sinwot a l = - a - 1 = - - andan = 0
2i
otherwise
/d ~ d2g(0, w) (32) 1 [tl < T1 } 22/"1 sin(nwoT1)
dy ~ 0v) 0 rl
To
< It I < - ~
ao ~
-~o
an
n'lr

for all n # 0
The only solution that remains finite as y -~ oo is
1
(v) 5(t - nTo) an -~- "~n for all n
ft(y,w) = Vie-Y~ ~ + C 2 e - ~ L-~u (33) n~--oo
312 ACTA MECHANICA SINICA 2003
The flow fields in above five cases can be easily 1 ~ at]
obtained by using successively the appropriate Fourier
coefficients in Eq.(35). The resulting flow fields for
these cases are given by ( y) at] ~ 1

~ (y, t) = [yo
at]
/2 (iw~ = ~ ) ] exp (iwot - / ) +
exp inwot -[ + [ ~ ~
=-( inwo --- -~

at]
exp [ - V + i( ot - V (40)
exp [-- ~ ~ Y -ff i(wot -- ~ ~ Y)]

(36) 6 STATEMENT OF THIRD PROBLEM

In this section the boundary value problem is
the same as in section 4 except that now we consider
I [ V~ at] t] ] e x p ( i w o t - / ) + the flow of an electrically conducting dipolar incom-
pressible fluid over the plate, with B0 as an imposed
uniform magnetic field perpendicular to the plate.
+ The governing boundary value problem has boundary
212(i~oo--~) e x p [ - ' V zt] \ WOy)]
conditions (26) with the following partial differential
equation
l[Vo+ a~_ t] ] e x p ( - - i w 0 t - - / ) - -
Ou 02u 2 03u 04u
Ot t]~y 2 - d 0 - ~ +'l~ (JxB)x=0
Oy4 (41)
au w~vo ~o
212 (iw0 q_ ~t] ) exp[-- Y -- i(wot - Y)]
where J is the electric current density, B is the to-
(37) tal magnetic field so that B = B0 + b, b is the in-
duced magnetic field and subscript x denotes the x-
component.
1 at] Neglecting the displacement currents, the
u3(y,t)= ~ll[Vo 12(iwo-__i~)Jexp(iwot-1)+
t]
Maxwell equations and the generalized Ohm's law ap-
propriate for the problem are
au u exp - y + i wot- y - OB
2i/2 (iw0 -- /~) divB=0 curlB=pmJ curlE-- Ot (42)

at] J = cr(E + Y • B) (43)

l [ g Oq- _p)]exp(-iwot-~)+
2i l~(iwo +
12 where E is the electric field, ~m the magnetic perme-
at] ~oo ~po ability and a the electrical conductivity of the fluid.
2i/2 (iwo + ~t] ) exp[- Y - i(wot - Y)] The assumptions made by Rossow[12'13] and oth-
ers are found to be physically reasonable for the
(381 boundary layer flows. Based on these assumptions,
particularly, of small magnetic Reynolds number (the
induced magnetic field is negligible compared with the
~4(y,t) -
I ~ sin(nwoT1)[V ~
- -
au ] "
imposed field), the linearized magnetohydrodynamic
7r n~--oo n 12(in t] (MHD) force involved in Eq.(41) can be put into the
form
exp( i n w o t - ~y) -F/-~
at] oo sin(nwoT1)
E /-Z~------K) _ l ( j x B) = c~B---~V
P P
(44)
n=-o~ n (lnwo -- -~
Making use of Eq.(44) in Eq.(41) we have
~o , 9

V y)j Ou 02u - d
2 03u 0% +
+ ul2-~-~ Nu = O (45)
(39) Ot V~y2 ay ~
Voi.19, No.4 Hayat T: Exact Solutions of a Dipolar Fluid Flow 313

where rn : l.,2 _ n2ca2l 4 _ 4Nvl 2 sn =- 2nwovl 2

aB~ N- (46)
P The flow fields in the five cases of section 5 after using
It should be noticed that if d = l = N = 0, Eq.(45) (47) are given by
reduces to that considered for Newtonian fluid. If
B0 = 0, on the other hand, the equation studied in ul(y, t) = H1 e x p [ - c l y + i(w0t - d l y ) ] +
Ref.[8] is recovered. Moreover, if both d = I = 0 we I1 exp[-~ly + i(w0t - ~?lY)] (48)
are left with the equation governing the MHD flow of
a Newtonian fluid. 1
u2(y, t) = ~{H1 e x p [ - c l y + i(wot - dly)]+

7 SOLUTION OF THE THIRD PROBLEM I1 e x p [ - r + i(~ot - . l y ) ] +

The solution of the boundary value problem H-1 e x p [ - c _ l y - i(wot + d - l y ) ] +
(Eq.(45) and boundary conditions (20)) has been ob-
tained employing the procedure used by the authors I-1 e x p [ - r - i(wot + ~-lY)]} (49)
in section 5. In order to avoid repetition, the details of 1
calculations are omitted and the flow field is directly u3(y, t) --= ~{H1 e x p [ - c l y + i(w0t - dly)]+
given by
I1 e x p [ - r + i(~0t - n l y ) ] -

u(y,t) = E Hnan exp[-cny + i(nw0t -- day)I+ H - 1 e x p [ - c _ l y - i(wot + d - l y ) ] -

n~--oo

oo
1-1 e x p [ - r - i(w0t + rl_ly)]} (50)
E Inan exp[-~,~y + i(nwot - rlny)] oo

n~--oo (47) u4(y,t)= E H~sin(nw~

n7r

where
exp[-c~y + i(nwot - day)I+
H~= Vo-I~
~ I~ sin(nw~ exp[-~,~y + i(nwot - 7]ny)]
vl2a * nTr
I~ =
V/(v2 -- n2w~14 -- 4 N v l 2) - 2inwovl 2
n 7L 0 (51)
a* 2~(~12v0 - M0)
#l 2 1
H,~ exp[-c~y + i(nczot - d~y)]+

eft i ( a ~ + ~ a ~ + 4{)~)/2
T00 I~ e x p [ - ~ y + i(nwot - flay)] (52)
n~--oo

d~ = i ( V ~ n + 4D2n-- an)/2

8 DISCUSSION

Before assigning the physical meaning to the ve-

r + 4q~-P~)/2 locity, we recast Eq.(35) in the following form

v + 7n nwol 2 - ~3~ o~
~n- t,,~- an
2vl 2 4vl 2 u(y,t) = a E (1 inco0/2~ e x p ( i n w o t - y / t ) -
v - 7n nwol 2 +/3n
p . -- 2v12 q" -- 4v12 oo a

a E (1 inw~
= + 4;i + 44)/2

fl~= ~/(V/-~n +4s2~--r~)/2

exp [ - V + - V - - YJJ (53)
314 ACTA MECHANICA SINICA
The main features of the generM solution are as ex-
pected. The fluid, initially at rest, oscillates harmoni-
cally in the x-direction. The envelope of these oscilla-
tions grows with increasing time t and decreases with
distance from the surface y.
Equation (53) represents a transverse wave since
its velocity component u is perpendicular to the di-
rection of propagation y. Also, the wave is rapidly
d a m p e d in the interior of the fluid i.e. the ampli-
tude decreases exponentiMly with y. Thus transverse
waves can occur in a dipolar fluid, but they are rapidly
d a m p e d as they move away from the solid surface t h a t
generates the waves with its motion.
We note t h a t Eq.(53) is a sum of two terms.
T h e depth of penetration of the vorticity in the sec-
ond t e r m is X/2L,/nwo. This depth increases with vis-
cosity and decreases with the fundamental frequency.
This is not surprising; if we slowly oscillate a plate
in a sticky fluid, we expect to drag a large masses of
fluid along with the plate; on the other hand, if we
move the plate rapidly in a fluid of low viscosity, we
expect the fluid essentiMly to ignore the plate, except
in a thin boundary layer.
The phase velocity in the second t e r m is
u* = ~ (54)
This shows t h a t u* can be increased with the increase
of w0 and v. From Eq.(53) it is Mso noteworthy to
mention t h a t the oscillations have the same frequency
nw0 throughout the flow.
We also remark that the depth of penetration
and phase velocity in the second t e r m of Eq.(53) is
the same as for the classical viscous fluid. However,
the amplitude of the wave is not the same.
The anMysis presented in sections 6 and 7 is
i m p o r t a n t from b o t h mathematical and application
point of view in m a n y areas because of the motion
of non-Newtonian fluids in the absence as well as in
the presence of a magnetic field. A few examples are
the flow of nuclear fuel slurries and the flow of liquid
metMs.
Another i m p o r t a n t field of application is the
electromagnetic propulsion. Basically an electromag-
netic propulsion system consists of a power source,
such as a nuclear reactor, a plasma, and a t u b e
2003
through which the plasma is accelerated by electro-
magnetic forces.
9 CONCLUSION
We have solved three canonical flow problems of
a dipolar fluid. These new solutions of the suddenly
moving/oscillating plate in its own plane exhibit in-
teresting phenomena with respect to the motion of
the dipolar fluid.
The generM formulae for flows of suddenly mov-
ing/oscillating plate in three problems are derived.
The velocity fields due to certain special values in
three problems are then derived as a special case.
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