Abstract: | As one of the methods of controlling separation of a flow and reducing hydrodynamic resistance in flow round the body, [1] proposes covering the surface of the body with a layer of magnetic fluid maintained by a inhombgeneous field. The effectiveness of the method is studied in the example of flow rounda circular cylinder covered with a uniform layer of a magnetic fluid the surface of which is also assumed to be cylindrical and not dependent on the external flow. The resistance of the cylinder falls (if the viscosity of the magnetic fluid is not too high) and can be greatly reduced. It is of interest to determine the nature of the deformation produced in the surface of the magnetic fluid by the external flow, since the degree to which the boundary can be deformed determines whether the proposed method can be realized in practice. Moreover, the magnitude of the deformation evidently affects the resistance of the cylinder and determines the limits of the applicability of the approximation adopted in [1] for the nondeformed state of the surface.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 1, pp. 28–31, January–February, 1988. |