Basset force

In a body submerged in a fluid, unsteady forces due to acceleration of that body with respect to the fluid, can be divided into two parts: the virtual mass effect and the Basset force.

The Basset force term describes the force due to the lagging boundary layer development with changing relative velocity (acceleration) of bodies moving through a fluid. The Basset term accounts for viscous effects and addresses the temporal delay in boundary layer development as the relative velocity changes with time. It is also known as the "history" term. The Basset force is difficult to implement and is commonly neglected for practical reasons; however, it can be substantially large when the body is accelerated at a high rate.