Drag and lift forces on a rigid sphere immersed in a wall-bounded linear shear flow

TL;DR

This study uses detailed simulations to analyze how a sphere's drag and lift forces vary near a wall in shear flow across different flow regimes, considering rotation effects and deriving empirical force models.

Contribution

It provides comprehensive numerical data and empirical force expressions for spheres near walls in shear flows, including effects of rotation and a wide range of Reynolds numbers.

Findings

Drag and lift forces depend on Reynolds number and wall proximity.

Rotation effects influence force magnitudes and flow structures.

Empirical force models accurately fit simulation data across regimes.

Abstract

We report on a series of fully resolved simulations of the flow around a rigid sphere translating steadily near a wall, either in a fluid at rest or in the presence of a uniform shear. Non-rotating and freely rotating spheres subject to a torque-free condition are both considered to evaluate the importance of spin-induced effects. The separation distance between the sphere and wall is varied from values at which the wall influence is weak down to gaps of half the sphere radius. The Reynolds number based on the sphere diameter and relative velocity with respect to the ambient fluid spans the range $0.1-250$, and the relative shear rate defined as the ratio of the shear-induced velocity variation across the sphere to the relative velocity is varied from $-0.5$ to $+0.5$, so that the sphere either leads the fluid or lags behind it. The wall-induced interaction mechanisms at play in the various flow regimes are analyzed qualitatively by examining the flow structure, especially the spanwise and streamwise vorticity distributions. Variations of the drag and lift forces at low-but-finite and moderate Reynolds number are compared with available analytical and semiempirical expressions, respectively. In more inertial regimes, empirical expressions for the two force components are derived based on the numerical data, yielding accurate fits valid over a wide range of Reynolds number and wall-sphere separations for both non-rotating and torque-free spheres.