Material transport of a magnetizable fluid by surface perturbation

Abstract Within the research for apedal, contour variable locomotion systems, the influence of an alternating magnetic field on the shape of the free surface of a magnetizable fluid (magnetic fluid) is studied. In the framework of the Stokes approximation, for the case where the amplitude of the alternating component of the applied magnetic field is much less than the magnitude of the permanent component, it is shown analytically that a periodical traveling applied magnetic field can generate a transport of the fluid in a prescribed direction. Numerical computations are performed to calculate and analyze the flow rate of the fluid as a function of the parameters of the field and the fluid. This effect can be used in fluid transporting engineering mini- and microsystems.