Normal-stress smallness in lubrication 2026-10-14
For gap and speed , shear stress scales as and viscoelastic normal stresses as . Their force contributions scale respectively as and . Thus the displayed criterion permits neglecting the normal-stress corrections in the leading lubrication approximation. It is weaker than requiring the normal stresses themselves to be smaller than the shear stress. Rapid time dependence can impose an additional material-time criterion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 49 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The usual elastic secondary flow around a rotating sphere is inward towards the equator, then poleward beside the sphere and outward near both poles. It is superposed on the primary azimuthal rotating sphere in Stokes flow. Tensile normal stresses along curved azimuthal streamlines act as hoop stresses, pulling liquid towards the rotation axis. Incompressibility supplies the axial return flow. Unlike the primary rotation, this meridional circulation does not reverse when the rotation is reversed.
The direction assumes the usual polymeric sign and negligible inertia. A general second-order fluid has circulation proportional to : a negative value reverses the arrows and eliminates the leading elastic circulation. Inertial secondary circulation is a different contribution, so slow rotation alone does not determine which contribution dominates. The sketch shows the elastic contribution for :
Elastic meridional circulation entering at the equator and leaving near the poles of a rotating sphere
. Details. For a quantitative check of the sketch, take sphere radius , angular velocity and . The primary azimuthal velocity is , with measured from the rotation axis. Its only nonzero strain components in the spherical orthonormal basis are . The leading elastic secondary circulation around a rotating sphere has the stream functionwith and . The bracket is outside the sphere. Thus at the equator and near the poles when , and both components vanish on the sphere. The diagram uses these velocities, not independently chosen arrows.
Two other manifestations of the same elastic normal-stress differences are rod climbing, in which inward hoop stresses raise a free surface around a rotating rod, and die swell, in which relaxation of the axial stress and stored polymer deformation allows an extrudate to expand sideways after leaving the die. These are not explained by a scalar shear viscosity alone. A Newtonian extrudate can also swell through velocity-profile rearrangement, so the elastic contribution should not be identified with every instance of swelling.
The second-order fluid is a slow, weak-flow expansion of the objective constitutive history of an isotropic simple fluid. Material frame indifference requires objective tensor rates. For an incompressible flow, the leading isotropic stress is arbitrary pressure, the linear deviatoric term is , and at the next order the independent contributions can be represented by and an objective rate of . Isotropic scalar contributions are absorbed into the pressure. Their coefficients can be expressed through the two low-rate normal-stress differences, givingHere is the lower-convected derivative, not a division by . This local expansion is appropriate when deformation and temporal change over the relevant viscoelastic relaxation time are small: both the Weissenberg number and the appropriate Deborah number must be small. It captures leading normal stresses in slow flows, but not arbitrary finite-strain history, rapid transients or strongly nonlinear shear thinning. In particular its restrictions are stronger than small-amplitude linear oscillatory response at arbitrary frequency.
For steady simple shear flow , use component-first , so the paper's is . The relevant tensors areSubstitution givesThus the first and second normal-stress differences are and , and the shear stress is .
For the velocity-preservation results, the definitions imply . Consequently the non-Newtonian stress can be writtenwhere is the Jaumann derivative. Let solve the steady incompressible Stokes flow problem with the prescribed boundary velocities. The supplied identity says that is curl-free. If , then for a scalar on the ordinary simply connected flow domain. The momentum equation at isHence the Newtonian velocity itself is a solution of the second-order constitutive model, with altered pressure . For nontrivial topology one also needs the curl-free force to admit a single-valued pressure; this is implicit in the usual boundary-value problem.
On the regular weakly non-Newtonian branch, Uniqueness of Stokes flow fixes the velocity correction. At first order it solves homogeneous Stokes flow, with zero boundary velocity, after the gradient force has been absorbed into pressure. Multiplying its equation by the correction and integrating gives , hence the correction vanishes. Higher perturbative corrections vanish in turn because the previous velocities remain . The velocity is in this second-order-fluid solution; only the pressure and stresses change. This is Newtonian velocity preservation in a second-order fluid. It does not assert global uniqueness of distant nonlinear solution branches or exact equality for a real fluid whose higher-order constitutive terms have been omitted.
For a planar incompressible velocity , the rate-of-strain tensor has the formAll quantities are independent of , so . The extra quadratic term is therefore also a pressure gradient. Together with the supplied identity for the Jaumann derivative, the entire non-Newtonian force is a gradient for arbitrary . The same boundary-value and weak-branch argument proves for every such planar second-order-fluid flow with prescribed boundary velocities, without requiring . Specifying stresses or a free surface instead of velocities would not give the same conclusion automatically, because the extra stresses affect those boundary conditions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 47 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The material derivative follows surfactant carried by the moving interface. Tangential surface divergence changes the local surface area and hence dilutes or concentrates insoluble material. Normal motion changes area through the curvature: an expanding sphere has positive and its concentration decreases. The last term is surface diffusion, which smooths concentration gradients. There is no exchange with the bulk; this is conservation of insoluble surfactant on a moving interface.
The interfacial speed is of order . Diffusion dominates redistribution when the surface Péclet number satisfiesThen , and advection of is a second-order effect. Write . Since , the projected divergence of the first term is , whereas the second has divergence ; its gradient contracted with is zero. Hence .
The leading steady transport equation is . Trace-freeness and the supplied surface Laplacian identity give . Fixing the conserved total surfactant removes the uniform null mode and yieldsThis is quadrupolar surfactant distribution on a spherical interface; its spherical mean is zero because .
With outside, inside, and the normal directed out of the bubble, the interfacial stress balance with variable surface tension isNow , so . Multiplying the curvature by the tension and retaining linear terms givesThe undeformed isotropic pressure jump is kept with its normal; the perturbation terms are evaluated on the reference sphere. Products of deformation and concentration perturbations are beyond the approximation.
The imposed tensor is symmetric and traceless, so is a harmonic scalar of degree two. Its decaying partner is ; the corresponding harmonic vector uses . Linearity and rotational symmetry give precisely these tensorial modes, with the growing scalar chosen to reproduce the imposed strain. Thus in the unscaled convention one can takeThe coefficients multiply distinct decaying modes. No other angular harmonic is forced at this order.
No penetration in the steady state gives . The given tangential surface velocity implies . The tangential stress balance, with , gives , or . ThereforeThe nonuniform normal stress is unaffected by the uniform inviscid interior pressure. Its balance isSubstitution and rearrangement giveAs , : the concentration-induced Marangoni stress suppresses tangential surface motion, making the exterior boundary behave like an immobile surface despite the inviscid interior. The deformation coefficient tends to ; the clean limit is . Both small surface Péclet number and small deformation, of order , are required. This is Marangoni immobilization of a bubble in straining flow.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 53 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An isotropic simple fluid has local stress determined by the deformation history of the material element. A viscometric flow is one whose relative deformation history is that of steady simple shear flow, up to rigid changes of frame. At a given element the shear rate is constant along its history, although it can differ between elements. This includes the locally simple-shear kinematics used in standard viscometric measurements.
Use the component-first velocity gradient . The first two Rivlin-Ericksen tensors areIn the axes of a steady shear , the relative deformation gradient over a lag is , since . The material history is determined by , and its tensor symmetries exclude and stress components. The remaining symmetric stress consists of an isotropic part, one shear component, and two independent normal-stress differences. The relevant matrices areThus span the allowed stress components. Material isotropy and reversal of the shear show that their scalar coefficients depend on . Define the viscometric functions bySolving for the matrix coefficients givesThis is an exact steady-viscometric representation, rather than an assumption that the fluid is everywhere a second-order fluid. The shear viscosity measures the shear resistance, while and measure the first and second normal-stress differences generated by shear. Their zero-rate values are understood as limits when these exist. An isotropic pressure changes neither normal difference.
For a flow in the lubrication approximation with gap , longitudinal scale and speed , the shear-rate scale is . The viscous shear force per unit volume scales as . Quadratic viscoelastic normal stresses scale as ; their longitudinal gradients, and the comparable mixed-component corrections, contribute forces of scale . Therefore the normal-stress smallness in lubrication criterion isEquivalently, the thin-gap aspect ratio must multiply the shear-based elastic parameter to give a small quantity: . Normal stresses need not themselves be smaller than the shear stress; it is their effect on the leading force balance that matters. If the flow changes on an additional short time scale , the term also requires for its neglect. Material coefficients should be evaluated at the characteristic shear rate.
Now take positive cylinder rotation, measure counterclockwise from the rightward horizontal, and let increase outward through the film. The tangent has upward component , so the tangential gravitational acceleration is . To leading order in , neglect inertia and higher-order hydrostatic or capillary pressure gradients, and write . Tangential force balance and the shear-free free surface givehenceThe wall shear stress is . It opposes rotation on the uphill side and assists it on the downhill side.
For a power-law fluid, . Its inversion must retain the sign:Integrating with the no-slip boundary condition yieldsThe volume flux per unit axial length is . The integrated bracket is , so the power-law coating on a rotating cylinder hasAt the gravitational term vanishes by continuity. Steady mass conservation makes independent of .
On the uphill half, put and . The local flux is , withIt has a unique maximum atA positive coating must carry the same steady flux at every angle. The tightest local bound occurs at , not on the downhill side, where the flux increases monotonically with thickness. ConsequentlyFor the thinner positive root on the uphill side connects through to the unique downhill root, giving a periodic leading-order coating profile. At the limiting flux the two uphill roots meet at ; it is the maximum flux of this lubrication model, with a possible limiting corner resolved by neglected higher-order effects. For the check is . All these conclusions require the resulting film to remain thin enough for the lubrication approximation and for the neglected normal stresses and inertia to satisfy their scaling restrictions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 64 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let denote the Eulerian perturbation of a fluid variable that is the pressure amplitude, and keep constant. The linearized Euler equations and incompressible flow constraint areThe last equation gives . Substituting it into the first yieldsDifferentiating this formula and using the vertical momentum equation produces the Rayleigh equation for inviscid shear flow:For a growing normal mode, is nonreal, so never vanishes on the real axis. In each open region the base velocity is constant or linear and ; therefore . Decay away from the layer selects above and below, while both exponentials are retained inside. Conveniently normalize these asThese are the spatially localized discrete modes relevant to instability, rather than all possible generalized neutral disturbances at a critical layer in a shear flow.
At each corner is continuous and jumps. The two sides have the same normal velocity and normal stress: there is no membrane, density jump or singular external force supplying a pressure jump. Thus and must be continuous. The pressure formula proves the required continuity of . This is pressure matching at a piecewise-linear shear interface; it does not require to be continuous. Equivalently integrating the Rayleigh equation for inviscid shear flow through a corner gives .
Write , , and . Continuity of normal velocity givesAt , the outside derivatives are , , while the inside derivatives are , . Hence pressure matching reduces toSimilarly at , the outside derivative is and the inside derivative is . Matching givesThe two equations can be written asA nonzero mode therefore requiresThis is the dispersion relation for the unbounded piecewise-linear shear layer.
With the phase convention , positive gives exponential temporal growth. Since the displayed is real, a growing/decaying pair occurs precisely whenFor , by the strict exponential tangent inequality, so every such mode is unstable. For , define . Its derivative is positive, while and . There is consequently exactly one root in that interval, andAt the cutoff the discrete roots merge at ; above it the roots are real and have no exponential growth. The physical wavelengths in the unstable band satisfy .
This is a finite-thickness Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: long disturbances roll up the layer and draw kinetic energy from its shear. The off-diagonal terms describe coupling of the two vorticity discontinuities. Short disturbances decay across the layer before strongly coupling its edges and are neutral. Indeed at the two phase speeds approach the velocities of the separated edges. At , expansion of the numerator gives , recovering the vortex sheet result ; the growth rate then behaves as .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 78 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be a small neck radius in the preceding sinusoidal shape. Expanding around a minimum gives , so its local axial length is . The uniform-pressure model has near the neck. Local conservation of mass therefore demands axial inner flux . Internal Hagen-Poiseuille flow of viscosity would require a pressure differenceIf , while by slenderness, this ratio is very large. Hence internal pressure variation certainly cannot be neglected when . This is a sufficient breakdown condition; appreciable variation can arise earlier, especially because the radial viscous and capillary terms nearly cancel in the uniform-pressure regime.
For the inner flow, the leading axial pressure is uniform across a section. Neglect the much smaller interfacial axial velocity relative to the internal pressure-driven motion. The lubrication approximation solves , with regularity at zero and at leading order. ThusThe area balance , combined with the exterior normal-stress relation, gives the lubrication equation for a bubble with viscous exterior:The neglected inner viscous normal stress is smaller by in the similarity scales obtained next; the external axial interfacial speed is likewise smaller than the large pressure-driven inner speed.
Put , and axial length . The radial viscous normal stress scales as and capillary pressure as . Retaining both requires . The left side scales as , while the axial-flux divergence scales as . Equating them gives . Thus both local radius and axial length shrink linearly in the remaining time.
To obtain the specified dimensionless coefficients, choose the linear pinch-off scaling of a slender viscous bubbleThen andThe constant has no axial derivative. Substituting into the flux equation and cancelling its dimensional factor givesBoth axial derivatives on the right are essential; the outer derivative is present in the PDF but lost in the converted TeX expression. The physical slope is , so an order-one similarity profile remains slender for . No solution of this similarity ordinary differential equation is required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 78 2 Solution 2026-10-14
For a slender viscous bubble, approximate the interface normal by the radial direction and its curvature by . Axial curvature and axial derivatives of the leading external motion are smaller by the slenderness factors. The exterior leading Stokes flow is locally radial. Incompressibility gives , while the kinematic boundary condition gives to leading order, henceThe radial viscous Laplacian of this velocity vanishes, so exterior pressure is constant to leading order; set its reference value to zero. Its radial normal stress at the interface is . Inner viscous normal stress is smaller by the viscosity ratio , and the bubble's leading normal stress is . The interfacial stress balance with variable surface tension, here with constant , consequently givesThese are local leading-order relations: the outer axial flow and tangential traction enter at higher slenderness order. The sign also has a useful check: a uniform cylinder with no imposed excess pressure contracts, , under surface tension.
Secondary flow 2026-10-14
A secondary flow is a usually smaller velocity component superposed on a primary flow selected by symmetry or a simplified force balance. Examples include meridional circulation around a rotating sphere, or transverse circulation in a curved channel. Its direction depends on the forcing mechanism: elastic normal stresses and inertial effects can produce opposite circulations.
Soap film pressure balance 2026-10-14
For an ideal soap film with equal constant surface tension on both faces, the effective tension is . Choose a unit normal from the minus side to the plus side, and . Translating the Young–Laplace equation to givesA single interface uses . An outward-oriented spherical soap bubble has , giving . The positive-convex curvature sum in the Young–Laplace equation article is . [ref]
An open film with the same resting gas on both sides has zero pressure jump. Neglecting film weight, soap film pressure balance gives : a minimal surface. A pressurized bubble instead has nonzero mean curvature. These statements assume equilibrium, constant surface tension, and negligible normal viscous stress. Surfactant gradients or motion require the fuller normal stress balance. [ref]
The variational outline is short. With fixed boundary, a normal displacement gives by the first variation of area formula. For a closed interface oriented outward, , so stationarity of gives . This is a first variation calculation; testing for a stable minimal surface needs the second variation, and deciding a global minimum needs a comparison of competitors.
Viscous stress tensor Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
The viscous stress tensor is the part of the Cauchy stress tensor associated with deformation rates. For an isotropic Newtonian fluid in incompressible flow,Here is pressure, is the identity matrix, is dynamic viscosity, and is the strain-rate tensor. The convention is ; denotes transpose and denotes trace. Across a plane with unit normal vector , the viscous traction is . The tensor makes this rule work for any plane orientation. [ref]
https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/fluids/fluids.pdf. David Tong, Fluid Mechanics, section 3.1.1, equations (3.5)–(3.6)
In the worked Couette flow, , soIn particular, while the shear rate is ; the factor in recovers . On the upper face of a fluid slice, gives viscous traction ; on the lower face it is . Constant stress can therefore transmit a force between the plates even though its divergence, and the net viscous force on each slice, vanish.
Compare planar extension with solid-body rotation :Extension changes lengths and produces viscous normal stresses . Rotation preserves distances and gives zero viscous stress, despite its nonzero velocity gradient and vorticity . For and , extension gives and ; rotation gives zero. A rotating fluid may still have a pressure gradient supplying its centripetal acceleration.
For an isotropic Newtonian fluid in three-dimensional compressible flow, separate shape change from volume change:The first term is deviatoric stress, with zero trace; is volume viscosity, also called bulk viscosity. For uniform expansion , and , so the shear contribution vanishes and the viscous stress is . Thus dynamic viscosity and volume viscosity describe distinct responses, and incompressible flow removes only the volume-change term. [ref]
https://notes.shreyasmandre.com/fluid-dynamics-notes/Ch2.html. Shreyas Mandre, Fluid Dynamics Lecture Notes, section 2.11.3, equation (2.49)
Weissenberg effect 2026-10-14
A rotating rod can draw a liquid with appreciable viscoelasticity inward and raise its free surface around the rod. Tensile normal stresses along curved flow lines produce an inward hoop force, competing with inertia and gravity. It is a manifestation of elastic normal-stress differences, rather than merely a changed scalar shear viscosity.
Young–Laplace equation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The Young–Laplace equation relates the pressure jump across a stationary interface to its curvature and surface tension. Choose a unit normal vector pointing from the inside region to the outside region, and define to be positive for a convex sphere. In mechanical equilibrium, with constant surface tension and no additional normal viscous stresses,Here are the signed principal curvatures in this convention. Their sum is twice the corresponding signed mean curvature; stating the convention prevents a factor-of-two ambiguity. The Young–Laplace equation is a local normal stress balance for one interface. [ref]
https://arxiv.org/html/2011.11403v2. Tomas Bohr and Bernhard Scheichl, Surface Tension and Energy Conservation in a Moving Fluid, equations (8)–(9)
A spherical liquid droplet of radius in a gas has one interface, with . An ideal thin soap bubble has two liquid–gas interfaces. Adding their pressure jumps givesFor the soap bubble, now means the inner gas pressure minus the outer gas pressure. The second formula assumes equal surface tensions on both faces and film thickness negligible relative to , so their radii can be identified. Retaining distinct radii gives . A gas bubble inside bulk liquid has only one interface and therefore uses . [ref]
With the assumed constant toy surface tension , a droplet with has excess pressure ; at it has . A thin soap bubble assigned the same and has excess pressure . These are differences from the surrounding pressure, rather than absolute pressures. Halving the radius doubles the capillary pressure; doubling the interface count also doubles it at fixed radius and surface tension.
Smaller droplets need larger excess pressure; two bubble interfaces double it
. Left: a virtual outward displacement of a sphere balances pressure work against increased surface energy. Right: excess pressure in pascals versus positive radius in millimetres for one and two interfaces, using the assumed constant toy . Details.The spherical case has a short work argument. A virtual increase in radius gives and . At mechanical equilibrium, the net pressure work balances the increase in surface energy:For a thin soap bubble, both interfaces gain approximately the same surface area, doubling the right-hand side and giving . This is a virtual work balance between neighboring spherical configurations, rather than an assumption that a fixed-volume droplet actually expands. The general Young–Laplace equation replaces the spherical area-to-volume ratio by local curvature, making geometry directly measurable through pressure.


