Retarded Many-Sphere Hydrodynamic Interactions in a Viscous Fluid

Abstract

An alternative method is suggested for the description of the velocity and pressure fields in an unbounded incompressible viscous fluid induced by an arbitrary number of spheres moving and rotating in it. Within the framework of this approach, we obtain the general relations for forces and torques exerted by the fluid on the spheres. The behavior of the translational, rotational, and coupled friction and mobility tensors in various frequency domains are analyzed up to the terms of the third order in the dimensionless parameter equal to the ratio of a typical radius of a sphere to the penetration depth of transverse waves and a certain power of the dimensionless parameter equal to the ratio of a typical radius of a sphere to the distance between the centers of two spheres. We establish that the retardation effects can essentially affect the character of the hydrodynamic interactions between the spheres.