Stokes flow singularities in a two-dimensional channel: a novel transform approach with application to microswimming

A transform method for determining the flow generated by the singularities of Stokes flow in a two-dimensional channel is presented. The analysis is based on a general approach to biharmonic boundary value problems in a simply connected polygon formulated by Crowdy & Fokas in this journal. The method differs from a traditional Fourier transform approach in entailing a simultaneous spectral analysis in the independent variables both along and across the channel. As an example application, we find the evolution equations for a circular treadmilling microswimmer in the channel correct to third order in the swimmer radius. Significantly, the new transform method is extendible to the analysis of Stokes flows in more complicated polygonal microchannel geometries.