Transient slow motion of a porous sphere

Abstract

The start-up creeping motion of a porous spherical particle, which models a permeable polymer coil or floc of nanoparticles, in an incompressible Newtonian fluid generated by the sudden application of a body force is investigated for the first time. The transient Stokes and Brinkman equations governing the fluid velocities outside and inside the porous sphere, respectively, are solved by using the Laplace transform. An analytical formula for the transient velocity of the particle as a function of relevant parameters is obtained. As expected, the particle velocity increases over time, and a particle with greater mass density lags behind a corresponding less dense particle in the growth of the particle velocity. In general, the transient velocity is an increasing function of the porosity of the particle. On the other hand, a porous particle with a higher fluid permeability will have a greater transient velocity than the same particle with a lower permeability, but may trail behind the less permeable particle in the percentage growth of the velocity. The acceleration of the porous particle is a monotonic decreasing function of the elapsed time and a monotonic increasing function of its fluid permeability. In particular, the transient behavior of creeping motions of porous particles may be much more important than that of impermeable particles.