Squeeze Film Theory for Micropolar Fluids

Needs’ experimental results on thin films deviate considerably from those predicted by the classical theory when the film thickness is less than 0.00127 mm. In recent years there has been a tendency to attribute this deviation to the inadequacy of the classical continuum theory to describe the fluid flow behavior when confined to narrow passages. In this paper the micropolar fluid theory is applied to the squeeze films for circular disks to explain Needs’ findings. An excellent qualitative agreement is found to exist between the results based on this analysis and Needs’ results. Analytical expressions are obtained for various squeeze film characteristics and effect of microstructure elaborated through graphs.