Unsteady unidirectional micropolar fluid flow

This paper considers the unsteady unidirectional flow of a micropolar fluid, produced by the sudden application of an arbitrary time dependent pressure gradient, between two parallel plates. The no-slip and the no-spin boundary conditions are used. Exact solutions for the velocity and microrotation distributions are obtained based on the use of the complex inversion formula of Laplace transform. The solution of the problem is also considered if the upper boundary of the flow is a free surface. The particular cases of a constant and a harmonically oscillating pressure gradient are then examined and some numerical results are illustrated graphically. (C) 2011 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.