PARTICLE TRACKING IN 3-DIMENSIONAL STOKES-FLOW

The three-dimensional motions of particles settling in Stokes flow are tracked numerically and experimentally. The numerical simulations are performed using a boundary element representation of the Stokes flow equations coupled with an Euler parameter representation of the particle kinematics. The experiments provide quantitative, three-dimensional results for particle trajectories in Stokes flow. The experimental and numerical results are compared and found to agree to within the experimental uncertainty. The numerical results are also benchmarked against previously reported results for two test problems.