Wake control with permeable multilayer structures: The spherical symmetry case

Abstract

We explore the possibility of controlling the wake and drag of a spherical object independently of each other, using radial distributions of permeability in the Brinkman-Stokes formalism. By discretizing a graded-permeability shell into discrete, macroscopically homogeneous layers, we are able to sample the entire functional space of spherically-symmetric permeabilities and observe quick convergence to a certain manifold in the wake-drag coordinates. Monte Carlo samplings with ${10}^4–{10}^5$ points have become possible thanks to our new algorithm, which is based on exact analytical solutions for the Stokes flow through an arbitrary multilayer porous sphere. The algorithm is not restricted to the Brinkman-Stokes equation and can be modified to account for other types of scattering problems for spherically-symmetric systems with arbitrary radial complexity. Our main practical finding for Stokes flow is that it is possible to reduce a certain measure of wake of a spherical object without any energy penalty and without active (power-consuming) force generation.