Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-advanced-fluid-dynamics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2025/2/a/solution

The stress tensor of the incompressible Newtonian fluid is , where is the rate-of-strain tensor. The homogeneous Stokes equations give . Apply the divergence theorem to the fluid between the body and a surrounding sphere . If points from the body into the fluid, the fluid-domain normal on the inner boundary is . Hence
This is the force flux at infinity in Stokes flow. A nonzero resultant force must be supported by a stress of order on a surface of area of order . More precisely, the leading exterior solution is a Stokeslet with force on the fluid :
Thus , and . These are leading generic orders for a translating body with nonzero drag; the integral alone does not determine every angular component, and force-free disturbances may decay faster.

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