Hydrodynamic interactions in colloidal crystals - (I). General theory for simple and compound lattices

A new method is presented for low-Reynolds-number flow problems involving p eriodic arrays of spherical particles. The method is based on an exact tech nique to calculate quasi-static hydrodynamic interactions between a finite number of spheres immersed in an unbounded Newtonian fluid. This technique is applied to an infinite system defined by periodic cells containing an ar bitrary configuration of N rigid spheres, The N spheres may be differently sized, Using the translational symmetry of the periodic cells, the set of e quations representing all hydrodynamic interactions in the infinite array, is decoupled. The set of decoupled equations resembles that for an isolated roup of N particles. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.