On the viscous flows of leak-out and spherical cap natation

This paper deals with the hydrodynamics of a viscous liquid passing through the hole in a deflating hollow sphere. I employ the method of complementary integrals and calculate in closed form the pressure and streamfunction for the axisymmetric, creeping motion coming from changes in radius. The resulting flow fields describe the motion of a deformable spherical cap in a viscous environment, where the deformations include changes in the size of the spherical cap, the size of the hole and translation of the body along the axis of symmetry. The calculations yield explicit expressions for the jumps in pressure and resistance coefficients for the combined deformations. The equation for the translation force shows that a freely suspended spherical cap is able to propel as an active swimmer. The expression for pressure contains the classic Sampson flow rate equation as a limiting case, but simulations show that the pressure must also account for the velocity of hole widening to correctly predict outflow rates in physiology. Movies based on the closed-form solutions visualize the flow fields and pressures as part of physical processes.