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Dynamics of a spherical particle in a laminar boundary layer

Article  in  Fluid Dynamics · November 1990

DOI: 10.1007/BF01049699

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Evgeny S. Asmolov
A. N. Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry
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DYNAMICS OF A SPHERICAL PARTICLE IN A LAMINAR BOUNDARY LAYER

E. S. Asmolov UDC 532.529

The problem of the motion of an individual spherical particle in a

laminar boundary layer is considered for small Reynolds numbers de-
termined from the relative velocity and the transverse velocity
gradient of the flow undisturbed by the particle. The dependence
of the transverse force acting on the particle, which results from
the nonuniformity of the free stream, on the distance of the par-
ticle from the surface of a flat plate is calculated. It is shown
that the direction of the transverse force changes with the distance
of the particle from the plate: near the surface the force is
positive, i.e., directed away from the plate, and at greater dis-
tances negative.

When dispersed-mixture boundary layer flows are investigated, the interphase inter-
action is usually assumed to be equal to the Stokes force, i.e., to coincide in direc-
tion with and be proportional to the relative velocity of the phases. In [1--3] the
transverse force was also taken into account. In this case it was taken equal to the
value obtained in [4] for an unbounded shear flow and the limiting Reynolds number ratio.
Below we examine the case of an arbitrary relation between the free-stream velocity and
the transverse velocity gradient. The solution of the problem is constructed by the
method of matched asymptotic expansions on the basis of a generalization of the approach
developed in [5, 6].
i. We will consider the motion of a spherical particle of radius a in a laminar
boundary layer when the Reynolds number of relative motion of the particle Re v = pu~au -I,
where p and U are the density and viscosity of the carrier phase and u~ is the relative
velocity, and the Reynolds number Re k = pa2u-18U/~y, determined from the transverse ve-
locity gradient of the flow undisturbed by the particle 3U/By, are asymptotically small
parameters :
Re0<< 1. Rob<<1, ~=Re,.Re~ -~/~ I
The solution of the problem is constructed in the form of a series in powers of
the small parameter r = Re~/2 using the method of matched asymptotic expansions~ In
the leading approximation the velocity and pressure distributions in the inner zone with
characteristic space scale a are described by the known solution of the problem of vis-
cous flow past a sphere. The space scale of the outer flow zone R 0 = as -I >> a is deter-
mined from the condition that in the Navier--Stokes equations the viscous and inertia
terms are quantities of the same order.
The solution of the Stokes equations (leading approximation of the solution in the
inner zone) corresponds to the Stokes force F S = 6 ~ a u = acting on the particle in the
direction of flow. The transverse force Fy results from the solution of the inner prob-
lem in the next approximation in the parameter r Fy ~ cF S. As shown in [4], for deter-
mining the force Fy there is no need to seek the solution of the first approximation in
the inner zone, it being sufficient to find the distribution of the perturbed velocity
Uy in the outer zone. In this case the expression for Fy can be written in the form:

3 j'v~ ~
F~ = --6- ~ t a u ~ ..... dS ( 1.1 )

Here, the integral is taken over the surface of a sphere of radius r whose center
coincides with the center of the particle, the space coordinates are made dimensionless
by dividing by R 0, and v~~~ is: the term of zero degree in the representation of the inner

Moscow. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza,
No~ 6, pp. 91-96, November-December, 1990. Original artic:le submitted July 3, 1989.

886 0015-4628/90/2506-08865i2.50 9 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation

limit of the outer expansion of the velocity u v in the form of a series in powers of r:

u~l,~o=vv(-l~l+v~(~ (1.2)
Under boundary layer conditions the scale of the outer zone R 0 is small as compared
with the thickness of the boundary layer 6: R 0 ~ X Re~ aj~ ~ ~ ~ X Re~ u2 [6], where Re X
= pUm~X/u m 1 is the Reynolds number of the boundary layer, and U= and X are, respectively,
the characteristic flow velocity and the characteristic longitudinal scale of the boundary
layer. Thus, on the scale of the outer zone R 0 the velocity profile U(y) of the flow
undisturbed by the particle may be assumed to be linear. In this case it is necessary
to take into account the direction of flow over the particle. Thus, in disperse medium
flows in the boundary layer by virtue of their greater inertia as compared with the car-
rier medium the particles may be flowed over in a direction opposite to their direction
of motion, i.e., U(y) = um(y -- ~)a -l The reverse situation, in which U(y) = u~(y +
~)~-z, may occur, in particular, when the particle enters the boundary layer with a low
initial velocity and is subsequently entrained by the flow.
In the coordinate system moving with the center of the particle, when the linearity
of the undisturbed flow velocity profile is taken into account, the equations for the
outer expansion of the perturbed velocity u and pressure p, made dimensionless by dividing
by u~a and pu~ Re v ~, respectively, may be written in the form [4]:

Vu=O, Vp-V~u+(y-~)au/ax+u~e~=-6ne~5(r) (1.3)

Here, the last two terms on the left-hand side of the momentum equation are the
contribution of the inertia term. The presence of a term on the right-hand side is
attributable to the fact that for the flow in the outer zone the particle is equivalent
to a point force equal to the Stokes force F S. We note that Eqs. (1.3) and, moreover,
all the analytic calculations that follow relate to the situation in which the particle
is flowed over in a direction opposite to its direction of motion, i.e., U(y) = u=(y --
~)-~. In order to obtain the corresponding results in the other case to change the signs
of the last term on the left-hand side and on the right-hand side of the momentum equa-
tion and, moreover, correspondingly modify the signs in all the subsequent expressions.
The boundary conditions for Eqs. (1.3) are the conditions of zero velocity perturba-
tions at infinity and on the surface of the flat plate if the particle is traveling at
distances of the order of R 0 from the plate (i.e., at the bottom of the boundary layer)

u]~_| ul~=~=O , yo=O(l)

where Y0 < 0 is the coordinate of the wall divided by R 0.
The solution of the problem in the outer zone must also satisfy the matching condi-
tion, i.e., the first term in the expansion of the inner velocity limit in powers of
r (1.2) must coincide with the outer limit of the solution of the Stokes equations

v+~-'~/r= uvs=-- ~/~(~r) y/r ~

The problem of determining the velocity and pressure fields in the outer zone for-
mulated above was previously considered in [5, 6] for the two limiting values of a:
+ ~ and a + 0. The resulting dependences of the transverse force on the distance of
the particle from the wall for these limiting values of the parameter m differed in sign:
when ~ + ~ the force Fy was positive, i.e., directed away from the wall, and when m + 0
it was negative. Thus we may suppose that for the case of arbitrary m = 0(I) the direc-
tion of the force will change as the particle moves away from the wall.
In [5, 6] in order to solve the problem in the outer zone the equations of motion
and the boundary conditions were subjected to a Fourier transformation in the coordinates
x and z. In this case the equations analogous to (1.3) were transformed into a system
of ordinary differential equations in the variable y for the Fourier transforms of the
velocity r and pressure H

r(k~, k~, y)= (2~)-= ~exp[--i(k~+k=z)]u dx dzl H (k~, k,, y ) = (2~) -~ Y exp[-i (k~+k,z)]p dx dz
Using this method to solve the general case ~ ~ 1 and successively eliminating the
variables ~, Fx, and F z from the system obtained, we arrive at the equation for the
Fourier transform of the transverse velocity Fy

887
 [L--ik~( y--a) ]LF~=--ik~3(2~) -'6' (y)
(1.4)
L=U-dUdy ~, F,I~=~=dF,/dyI~=~=F,t~.+==O
The s o l u t i o n o f Eq. ( 1 . 4 ) satisfying the boundary conditions can be e x p r e s s e d in
terms of Airy functions: Ai(~), Ai(s , ~ = ik~a(y -- ~) ~ k2k2~,_ ~Z = e f Z l ~ 3 ~ , and
their derivatives. In final form the solution for F v when k x e 0 (as it is easy to show,
for k x < 0 the solution of (1.4) is the complex conjugate of the solution obtained from
(--kx)) can be written in the form [6]:

Fu= l'[e~(l~-l")+e-~'(A+f') ] - l'e-"-----~'~ z(--g) (l~e~-l~ e-~'')

2k(I~+ls) 2k 2k
0 0

I, = [, q~e-"ndn, 1,.,= ~ Ai(%,)e-hndq, l.~= ~ Ai(~,)e-h~d,l

Yo Yo 0

o o !i

yo Yo o

y 0 o (1.5)

17= ]Ai(~i>ekndN. 18= ]~e-h~dN, I9= ~ek~dD

o y y

~ = 3 i k cos 0e~/e[e 2~/~ Ai' (~to) Ai ( ~ ) - A i ' (~o) Ai (h)]X(-Y)

~o=~]~=o=iak~--kfkZ ~. ~0=ef~/~o, cos O=kJk
Here, • is the Heaviside unit function.
2. The d i s t r i b u t i o n of the velocity Uy in t h e o u t e r z o n e , which i s d e t e r m i n e d from
the inverse Fourier transformation

where Fy is described by Eq. (1.5), satisfies the matching condition. In order to con-
vince ourselves of this, we must compare the functions Fv and FyS, where FvS is the
Fourier transform of the outer velocity limit UvS found ~rom solving the Stokes equations.
The function Fy S satisfies the equation similar-to (1.4)

UF,s=-ik~3 (2~)-W (y) ( 2.1 )

and t h e b o u n d a r y c o n d i t i o n s rySly~;~ = 0. The s o l u t i o n of ( 2 . 1 ) can be w r i t t e n in t h e
form:
r~s=--i3(4n)-ilglcosOe -~1~'
From the expression obtained it is clear that as lYl ~ r + 0 the function Fy S i : ( r )
when k ~ i, and at large values of k ~ r -i > 1 decreases exponentially. From this
follows that the characteristic scales of the integration domains with respect to k x and
k z in the inverse Fourier transformation of Fy S are also quantities of the order of r -i.
This leads to a singularity of the type r -i in the inverse transformation of the velocity:
Uy S ~ FySkxk z ~ rr-2 ~ r-i.
The solution (1.5) for Fy has similar properties when IYl + 0, k ~ lyl -i. In order
to prove this assertion, using the asymptotic expressions for Airy functions and their
derivatives at large values of the argument I~I > 1 [7], we must represent the functions
Ai($ i) and ~ in the form of products of series in powers of y and k -i and the exponentials
exp(--ky) and exp(ky) and then calculate all the necessary integrals in expression (1.5)
(this procedure is described in detail in [6]). Carrying out all these calculations,
we have
l'~=l'o~§ ]gl-"0, k~igi-', I'~,=I'~ia/4cosO[(Z .... [yl)§
(2.2)
I'~o=F~I,=~ [1, (l~+A) (I=+I~)-'-L] (2k)-'
Thus, the first term in the expansion (1.2) of the inner velocity limit u v in powers
of r, equal to Uy S (which is equivalent to the matching condition), is formed ~n the

888
 I

I cF
0

-6
z I~o}
Fig. 1 Fig. 2

inverse Fourier transformation as a result of the integration of the first term Fy S in

the expression for Fy (2.2). The contribution to u/~ which must be known in order to
calculate the transverse force Fy, is formed in two ways: as a result of the integration
of the second term Fy I = O(r 2) in expansion (2.2) over the range of values of k x, k z ~
r -I and, moreover, as a result of the integration of the third term Fy0 = 0(i) over the
range of values of k x, k z ~ i:
hi2

0 --a12

This last expression has been written with allowance for the complex conjugacy of
Fy for k x < 0 and the solution for k x ~ O.
We note that as distinct from the limiting case a + 0 [16] the velocity u/~ contains
not only a homogeneous (second integral in expression (2.3)) but also an inhomogeneous
part (first integral), i.e., a part that depends on xr -l , yr -z , zr- i However, this
inhomogeneous part does not contribute to the transverse force (i.i), since the corre-
sponding integral in (2.3) is a function odd in y, so that its integral over the surface
of a sphere whose center coincides with the center of the particle is equal to zero.
The integral (i.i) of the homogeneous part of t,~~"~ is obviously equal to the product
obtained by multiplying it by 4~. As a result for the transverse force we have

~',,=c,~alu, lRe/':. CF=J2~r~ ~ Be(r,,o)kdkdO (2.a)

0 --alZ

3. The integrals ii, 12, 13, Ix, and I s and the integrals (2.4), which must be known
in order to calculate the transverse force Fy with a relative accuracy ~ = 10 -2 , were
determined numerically in the same way as in [6].
Figure 1 presents the results of calculating the transverse force coefficient c F,
which characterizes its dependence on the dimensionless distance of the particle from
the wall Y0, for values of the parameter ~ = O, 0.5, i, and 2 (curves 1--4). The calcula-
tions for a = 0 were made in [6]. The continuous curves correspond to the case u~ < O,
the broken curves to the case u~ > 0. When u~ < 0 (boundary layer flow of a dispersed
mixture) for all = > 0 the CF(Y 0) dependence is an alternating function: near the sur-
face of the plate the coefficient c F and hence the force Fy are positive, while at large
distances from the plate they are negative. Accordingly, in the case of a dispersed
mixture moving in a boundary layer the particles do not reach the surface of the plate,
as follows from [2, 3], where a limiting value c~ = --6.46 was assumed for c F. As a
result of the action of the alternating transverse force the particles will obviously
accumulate in a thin sublayer on the surface of the plate with a thickness of the order
of R o ~ X Re~ 314.
The motion of the particle in the main part of the boundary layer on the scale of

889
 the outer expansion R 0 corresponds to that in an unbounded shear flow: lY01 ~ ~/R0 + ~"
In this limiting case it is desirable to calculate the value of the transverse force
coefficient c F by directly solving Eq. (1.4) with the boundary conditions Fvly+~= = 0,
since it is difficult to pass to the limit in Eqs. (1.5). Below we give only the final
expressions for ry0:
0

0 -~

The dependence CF(~) as Y0 ~ --= is shown in Fig. 2. It must be kept in mind that
in an unbounded shear flow by virtue of the symmetry of the problem the absolute value
of c F does not depend on the direction of the flow over the particle and in the two above-
mentioned cases (u~ < 0 and u~ > 0) for the same ~ the coefficients c F differ only in sign.
As = ~ 0 the limiting value of c F coincides with the value c~ = 6.46 obtained in [4].
In the other limiting case as ~ + = the coefficient c F tends to zero more rapidly than
-2

The author wishes to thank M. N. Kogan and N. K. Makashev for useful discussions.

LITERATURE CITED
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flow of a suspension over a flat plate," Proc. "Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics
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a circular tube," Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Mekh. Zhidk. Gaza, No. 6, 80 (1988).
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for the lift forces acting on a dispersed admixture," Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Mekh.
Zhidk. Gaza, No. 6, 171 (1988).
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layer," Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Mekh. Zhidk. Gaza, No. 5, 66 (1989).
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(1965).

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