Translation of a sphere towards a rigid plane in an Oldroyd-B fluid

Viscoelastic fluids may exhibit complex flow behaviors, such as nontrivial normal stress differences and time-dependent responses, which can significantly impact the settling dynamics of suspended particles. We investigate particle-wall interactions for the case of a sphere moving close to and normal to a wall in an Oldroyd-B fluid, considering both prescribed velocity and force scenarios; the lubrication approximation and Deborah number perturbation techniques are used.