International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applicable Mathematics & Computer Science,

Vol. 1, No.6, 2011

Stokes Flow of Micropolar Fluid Past a Solid Sphere

Jayalakshmamma D.V.
1
, Dinesh P.A.
2
, Chandrashekhar D.V.
3
and M. Sankar
4,*

1
Department of Mathematics, Vemana Institute of Technology, Bangalore 56 0034, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: jaya.dvj@gmail.com

2
Department of Mathematics, M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore 560 054, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: dineshdpa@hotmail.com

3
Department of Mathematics, Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Bangalore 560 074, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: dvchandrur@yahoo.com

4
Department of Mathematics, East Point College of Engineering and Technology, Bangalore-49, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: manisankarir@yahoo.com


Abstract

An exact solution is obtained for the axi-symmetric steady flow of an incompressible micropolar
fluid past a solid sphere by considering a uniform flow far from the sphere. The governing equations
written in terms of stream function in the spherical coordinate system are solved using similarity
transformation method. An analytical expression for the stream function, components of tangential
velocity and shearing stress are obtained in terms of coupling parameter N
1
and coupling stress
parameter N
3
. Numerical computations are also carried out for the variation of N
1
and N
3
to study
the stream function and shearing stress, and found that the present results are in good agreement
with the earlier results.

Keywords: micropolar fluid, stokes flow, porous media

1. Introduction

The study of flow through or past porous media have several important applications, like the
flow of oil through rocks, extraction of energy from geothermal region, combustion in an inert
porous matrix, underground spreading of chemical waste, chemical catalytic reactors, the
filtration of solids from liquids, the study of flow sedimentation. Also, the drug permeation
through human skin, dispersion of cholesterol and other fat substances from art eries to
endothelium, and many more, the knowledge of flow transport in porous media play a vital role.
In the literature, the flow past a sphere in porous media using Darcys or Brinkman equation
under different boundary conditions have been studied extensively. Beaver and Joseph [1]
proposed the slip boundary conditions at the interface. They have shown that there exists a
tangential fluid velocity relative to the fluid in the interior of the porous medium, which is
proportional to the tangential gradient of the fluid velocity. The theoretical justification for this
slip condition was given by Saffman [2]. The study of Stokes flow past a porous sphere inside
an impermeable core has been discussed by Raja Sekhar and Amaranath [3] using Darcys
equation in the porous region with Saffmans boundary conditions. Higdon and Kojima [4] have
studied stokes flow past porous bodies using Brinkman equation for the flow inside the porous
region. They derived an asymptotic result for small and large permeability using Greens
function for Brinkman equation. Pop and Cheng [5] have used the Brinkman model to study the
Stokes flow past a circular cylinder embedded in a porous medium. Padmavathi et al. [6]
studied the Stokes flow past a porous sphere using Brinkman model. They found the velocity
and pressure field for general non-axisymmetric Stokes flow, both inside and outside a porous
spherical shell. Barman [7] has studied the flow of a Newtonian fluid past an impervious sphere
embedded in a porous medium, using Brinkman model. He obtained exact solution to the
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Vol. 1, No.6, 2011

governing equations specifying constant velocity away from the sphere and noted that the
viscous sub layer increases with an increase of the permeability of the porous medium. A closed
form solution for the forced flow past a sphere, which is embedded in a porous medium has
been obtained by Pop and Ingham [8], using the Brinkman model.
In environmental problems like water pollution, some polymeric fluids, animal blood etc, it
is important to consider the effect of suspended particles on the flow past/through geometric
shapes like sphere or cylinder. The theory of miropolar fluids, introduced by Eringen [9], dealt
with the class of fluids which respond to microscopic effects like microrotation, arising from
the presence of suspended particles in the fluid. The stokes flow of a micropolar fluid past a
sphere was studied by Lakshman Rao and Bhujanga Rao [10], past a spheroid by Lakshman Rao
and Iyengar [11] and past an approximate sphere by Iyengar and Srinivasacharya [12]. The
mathematical equation of micropolar fluids and its applications to lubrication and porous media
was studied by Lukazewiez [13]. Srinivasacharya and Rajyalakshmi [14] studied the creeping
flow of micropolar fluid past a porous sphere. They have obtained the variation of drag and
streamlines for permeability parameter and coupling number.
In the present paper, the steady flow of an incompressible micropolar fluid past a solid
sphere has been investigated analytically as well as numerically. We considered the Stokes
equation to describe the flow field. The effect of couple number and couple stress parameter is
studied for the variation in amplitude of shearing stress.

2. Mathematical formulation

Consider the axisymmetric, steady flow of an incompressible, micropolar fluid past a solid
sphere of radius a, assuming an uniform velocity U far away from the sphere. The governing
equations for the flow are (Eringen [9]):
The equation of continuity:
0 = V q

. (1)
The equation of linear momentum:
( ) ( ) q p

2
2 V + + V = V q e . (2)
The equation of angular momentum:
( ) ( ) ( ) 0 2
2
= V ' + V V ' + ' + V e q e q e

q , (3)
where ( ) w v u q , ,

is the velocity vector, e

is the microrotation vector, p is the fluid pressure,

q , are viscosity coefficients and q ' ', are the spin viscosity coefficients.
A spherical polar coordinate system ( ) | u, , r is considered with origin as the center and
direction along the axis 0 = u . Since the flow is axisymmetric, the flow functions are
independent of | and hence the stream function ( ) u , r is introduced such that
u

u c
c
=
sin
1
2
r
u ;
r r
v
c
c
=

u sin
1
. (4)
The governing equations (1) to (3) are nondimensionalized using the transformation:

ap
p , ,
a
r

U U
q
q r

= = =
-

- -

. (5)
Using equation (4) in equation (2) and (3) and eliminating pressure by cross multiplication
method we get
( ) 0
2 2 2 4
= E E N E , (6)
where
1
3
1
2
N
N
N
N

= , in which
q

+
=
2
1
N is the coupling parameter 1 0
1
s s N ,
( )
2
3
2 a
N
q
q
+
'
= is coupling stress parameter and , 0
3
m N s s where m is a positive real constant
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Vol. 1, No.6, 2011

and |
.
|

\
|
c
c
c
c
+
c
c
=
u u u
u
sin
1 sin
2 2
2
2
r r
E is the Laplacian operator. The boundary conditions for the
present physical system considered are, the no-slip condition at a r =
( ) ( ) 0 , , = = u u
u
r r
r
, (7)
and far away from the sphere we have,
( ) u u
2
2
sin
2
,
r
r = as r . (8)
Using the substitution
1 0
+ = in equation (6) and on resolution we get
0
0
2
= E , (9)
0
1
2 2
1
4
= E N E , (10)
where equation (9) represents a basic flow.

3. Method of solution

The boundary conditions (8) initiate the solution to the equation (10) in the form of
( ) ( ) u u
2
sin , r f r = . (11)
Substituting equation (11) in equation (10), the partial differential equation in ( ) u , r reduces to the
ordinary differential equation in ( ) r f as
0
2 8 8 4
2
' ' 2
4
'
3
' '
2
= |
.
|

\
|
+ f
r
f N f
r
f
r
f
r
f
iV
. (12)
Also, the corresponding boundary conditions reduces to
( ) ( ) 0 1 1
'
= = f f at 1 = r (13)
and
( )
2
r r f = as r . (14)
The fourth order ordinary differential equation (12) is transformed to second order differential equation
by using the substitution
( ) f
r
f r g
2
' '
2
= , (15)
and results in
0
2
2
2
' '
= |
.
|

\
|
+ g N
r
g . (16)
This second order differential equation in ( ) r g is transformed to modified Bessels equation of order
2
3
using the transformation ( ) ( ) r w r r g = (Pop and Cheng [5]) i.e.,
( ) 0
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ |
.
|

\
|
+ w rN
dr
dw
r
dr
w d
r . (17)
The solution for the equation (17) in the form modified Bessels function is
( ) ( ) rN K B rN I A w
2
3 1
2
3 1
+ = , (18)
where
1
A ,
1
B are the arbitrary constants and ( ) rN I
2
3
, ( ) rN K
2
3
are the modified Bessels functions of
first and second kind respectively. From the boundary condition (14) we obtained 0
1
= A . With this,
the equation (15) can be written in the form of
( ) rN K r B f
r
f
2
3 1
2
' '
2
= . (19)
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Equation (19) is a second order differential equation with variable co-efficient. The solution of
equation (19) is obtained using the method of variation of parameter in the form of
( ) ( ) rN K rN C Br
r
A
r f
2
3
2
+ + = , (20)
where A, B, C are the arbitrary constants and are determined using the boundary conditions from
equations (13) and (14), given by:

2
2
3 3
N
N N
A
+ +
= , 1 = B and
N
e
N
C
t
2 3
= .
Therefore ,
( )
( )N r
e
rN N
r
r N
N N
r f

|
.
|

\
|
+ + +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ +
=
1 2
2
2
1
1
3 1 3 3
, (21)
and
( )
( )
u u
2 1 2
2
2
sin
1
1
3 1 3 3
,
(
(

|
.
|

\
|
+ + +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ +
=
N r
e
rN N
r
r N
N N
r . (22)
Using equation (21) in equation (4), the expression for normal and tangential components of velocities
takes the form:
( ) r f
r
u
2
cos 2 u
= ; ( ) r f
r
v
'
sinu
= . (23)
The shearing stress at any point on the surface of the sphere is
(

c
c
+ |
.
|

\
|
c
c
=
u
t
u
u
r r
v
r
r
r
1
. (24)
The dimensionless shear stress at any point on the surface of the sphere is given by
(

c
c
+ |
.
|

\
|
c
c
=
u

t
u
u
r r
v
r
r
a
U
r
1
. (25)
Hence on the surface of the sphere at
1 = r
, the dimensionless shearing stress reduces to
( ) u

t
u
sin 1
2
3
N
a
U
r
+ = . (26)
Numerical computation has been carried out for the variation of non-dimensional parameter N
1
and N
3

to study the stream function and shear stress.

4. Results and discussion

We considered the axisymmetric steady flow of an incompressible micropolar fluid past a
solid sphere by assuming a uniform flow for away from the sphere, and considered the stream
function for the axisymmetric fluid flow of the sphere. The exact solution for the problem is
obtained in terms of a modified Bessels function. Also, the variation of fluid flow is obtained
for different values of the non-dimensional parameters N
1
and N
3
.
It is interesting to note that the streamlines are uniform with the variation of coupling
number N
1
by fixing the coupling stress parameter N
3
and the meandering of streamlines is
observed near the surface of the sphere which is shown in Fig. 1. When the couple stress
parameter is negligible, the fluid flows around the solid sphere as in Fig. 2 (a), for a fixed
coupling number. Also further rising in the coupling stress, we note that there is no change in
the streamlines patterns and observed a uniform flow, which is given in Fig. 2 (b-d). These
results are qualitatively in good agreement with the results of Srinivasacharya and Rajyalakshmi
[14].
The variation of dimensionless shearing stress
u
t
r
on the surface of the sphere at 1 = r with , is
studied for several values of coupling stress and coupling parameter. It is observed that shearing stress
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International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applicable Mathematics & Computer Science,
Vol. 1, No.6, 2011

is periodic in nature, attains its maximum value at
2
t
u = and vanishes at =0 and =. It is
important to note that the amplitude grows with an increase in the coupling parameter as observed from
the Fig. 3 (a-d). Also, we noticed that an increase in the coupling stress parameter decreases the
amplitude of the shearing stress. The remarkable point to be noted is that the change in the amplitude
of the shearing stress is negligibly small for smaller value of coupling number with an increase in the
coupling stress parameter (see Fig. 3 (a)). But large variation is seen for the case of higher value of the
coupling number in which an increase in the coupling stress parameter decreases the amplitude (see
Fig. 3 (b) to (d)).


(a) (b)


(c) (d)

Figure 1. Streamlines for N
1
= 0.01, 0.5, 0.75 and 0.95 with N
3
= 10. The x- and y- axes are
respectively for r and f(r).

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Vol. 1, No.6, 2011


(a) (b)


(c) (d)

Figure 2. Streamlines for N
3
=0.1, 5, 20 and 50 with N
1
= 0.25. The x- and y- axes are
respectively for r and f(r).




(a) (b)

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
u
u
t
r

u
t
r

u
N
3
= 10, 5, 1
N
3
= 10, 5, 1
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Vol. 1, No.6, 2011




(c) (d)
Figure 3. Variation of dimensionless shearing stress for (a) N
1
=0.001, (b) 0.1, (c) 0.5 and (d) 0.9.

Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the research centers of M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology,
Vivekananda Institute of Technology, East Point College of Engineering and Technology and
Vemana Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India for their support and encouragement to carry
out the research work.

References

[1] Beavers, G. S., Joseph, D.D., Boundary conditions at a naturally permeable wall, J. Fluid
Mech., vol. 30(1), pp.197-207, 1967.
[2] Saffman P. G., On the boundary condition at the surface of a porous medium, Studies in Appl.
Math., vol. 50, pp. 93-101, 1971.
[3] Raja Sekhar G.P., Amaranath T., Stokes flow past a porous sphere with an impermeable core,
Mechanics Research Communications, vol. 23(5), pp. 449-460, 1996.
[4] Higdon, J.J.L., Kojima, M., On the calculation of stokes flow past porous particles, Int. J.
Multiphase flow, vol.7 (6), pp. 719-727, 1981.
[5] Pop I., Cheng P., Flow past a circular cylinder embedded in a porous medium based on the
Brinkman model, Int. J. Engg. Sci, vol. 30(2), pp. 257-262, 1992.
[6] Padmavathi, B.S, Amaranath, T., Nigam, S.D., Stokes flow past a porous sphere using
Brinkman model, ZAMP, vol. 44, pp. 929-939, 1993.
[7] Barman, B., Flow of a Newtonian fluid past an impervious sphere embedded in porous
medium, Indian J. Pure Appl. Math., vol. 27 (12), pp. 1249-1256, 1996.
[8] Pop I., Ingham D.B., Flow past a sphere embedded in a porous medium based on Brinkman
model, Int. Comm. Heat Mass Transf., vol. 23 (6), pp. 865-874, 1996.
[9] Eringen, A.C., Theory of micropolar fluids, J. Math. Mech., vol. 16, pp 1-18, 1966.
[10] Lakshmana Rao, S.K., Bhujanga Rao, P., Slow stationary flow of a micropolar fluid past a
sphere, J. Engg. Maths., vol. 4, pp 209-217, 1971.
[11] Lakshmana Rao, S.K., Iyengar, T.K.V., The slow stationary flow of incompressible micropolar
fluid past a spheroid, Int. J. Engg. Sci., vol. 19, pp 189-220, 1981.
[12] Iyengar, T.K.V., Srinivasacharya, D., Stokes flow of an incompressible micropolar fluid past
an approximate sphere, Int. J. Engng. Sci., vol. 31, pp 115-123, 1993.
[13] Lukaszewicz, G., Micropolar fluids theory and applications, Birkhauser, Boston. MA, 1999.
[14] Srinivasacharya, D., Rajyalakshmi, I., Creeping flow of micropolar fluid past a porous sphere,
Applied mathematics and Computation, vol. 153, pp 843-854, 2004.
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
u
u
t
r

u
u
t
r

N
3
= 1, 5, 10
N
3
= 1, 5, 10
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International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applicable Mathematics & Computer Science,
Vol. 1, No.6, 2011

Authors Profile


Ms. Jayalakshmamma D.V. is currently doing her Ph.D. degree under
Visveswaraya Technological University, Karnataka, India. Presently, she is working
as an Associate Professor in the department of Mathematics, Vemana Institute of
Technology, Bangalore. She has 12 years of teaching experience in professional
colleges. Her area of research is Fluid Dynamics. She has published her research
papers international and national journals. Also, she has participated and presented
her research papers in national and international conferences.





Dr. Dinesh P. A. received his Ph.D. degree from Bangalore University, India in
2004. The author has received many awards like, C. L. Chandna Mathematics
Student Award 2001 from the Canadian World Foundation, Canada, President of
India Cash Prize - 1999 in ISTAM Conference, Best Seminar presentation -
1999 at NGRI, Hyderabad, UNESCO Fellowship, IASC-INSA-NASI Summer
Research Fellowship 2007. He is a member of ISTE. He has guided five M.Phil.
students and presently guiding five students for their Ph.D. degree under
Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU). He has published many research
papers in National and International Journals/ Conferences. Two of his research
work is published in IPR patents 2010-2011. He has two research projects funded
by VTU. His major research interests are in Heat and Mass Transfer; Computational
Fluid Dynamics and Flow problems for different geometries.



Dr. D. V. Chandrashekhar received his Ph.D. degree from Bangalore University,
Bangalore, Karnataka, India in 2004. He is currently working as a Vice-Principal,
and Head of the Department of Mathematics, Vivekananda Institute of Technology,
Bangalore. He is having overall teaching experience of 15 years in professional
college besides guiding candidates for M Phil and Ph.D. degree. His major research
interests are Fluid Mechanics, and Computer-Engineering. He has published
Research Articles in reputed National and International Journals.







Dr. M. Sankar received his Ph.D. degree from Bangalore University, India in 2003.
He worked as Research Professor at Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South
Korea during 2009-2011. He has 15 years of teaching and research experience, and
is currently working as Professor of Mathematics at East Point College of
Engineering and Technology, Bangalore. He has published 25 research papers in
leading National and International journals, and also presented his research findings
in various National and International conferences. His major research areas are Heat
and Mass Transfer, Flow through and past porous media and Computational Fluid
Dynamics. He is guiding students for Ph.D. in the area of Fluid Mechanics and Heat
Transfer.






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