Publication: Flow separation in a viscous parabolic shear past a sphere
Abstract
Axisymmetric parabolic shear flow past a spinning sphere in an unbounded viscous medium is considered using the matching technique and taking the non-uniform shear as the dominant feature, where the Reynolds number based on parabolic shear Re≪1 and the rotational Reynolds number based on the angular rotation of the sphere R0≪1 are such that R02/Re=O(1). Forces on the body are calculated and flow separation from the boundary is studied. Coalescion of two wakes or detachment of a wake into two are observed, depending on the increase in magnitude U′ of the free stream for a fixed R02/Re or increase in R02/Re for a fixed U′ respectively. © 1982 Springer-Verlag.