Study of the motion of a vertically falling sphere in a viscous fluid

Abstract

This paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the motion of spherical particles in viscous fluids. The classical problem of spheres falling through viscous fluids for small Reynolds numbers was solved taking into account the effects of added mass. The analytical solution for the motion of a falling sphere, from the beginning to the end of the fall, was combined with an iterative numerical method to determine the fluid viscosity coefficient, diameter of the sphere and terminal velocity. The proposed solution was validated with experimental literature data. The study presented may also help understanding the fluid–particle interactions from both theoretical and educational standpoints.