Inertia effects on the motion of long slender bodies

Abstract

A solid long slender body with curved centreline is held at rest in a fluid undergoing a uniform flow. Assuming that the Reynolds number Re based on body length is fixed, the force per unit length on the body is obtained as an asymptotic expansion in terms of the ratio κ of the cross-sectional radius to body length. In the limit of large Re, this result is no longer valid and an asymptotic expansion in κRe is necessary. A uniformly valid solution is obtained from these two expansions. The total force and torque acting on a body with a straight centreline are explicitly determined. The limiting cases of small and large Re are studied in detail.