Retarded many-sphere hydrodynamic interactions in a viscous fluid

An alternative method is suggested for the description of the velocity and pressure fields in an unbounded incompressible viscous fluid induced by an arbitrary number of spheres moving and rotating in it. Within the framework of this approach, we obtain the general relations for forces and torques exerted by the fluid on the spheres. The behaviour of the translational, rotational, and coupled friction and mobility tensors in various frequency domains is analysed up to the terms of the third order in the dimensionless parameter b equal to the ratio of a typical radius of a sphere to the penetration depth of transverse waves and a certain power of the dimensionless parameter ? equal to the ratio of a typical radius of a sphere to the distance between the centres of two spheres. We establish that the retardation effects can essentially affect the character of the hydrodynamic interactions between the spheres.