Hydrodynamic origin of Korteweg stresses from shear-induced horizontal buoyancy.

A recent study [P. Rajamanickam, Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math. 78, hbaf007 (2025)1464-385510.1093/qjmam/hbaf007] of non-Boussinesq fluids in narrow channels identified a novel shear-induced horizontal buoyancy force that emerges upon depth-averaging the Navier-Stokes equations. This Letter demonstrates that this force is formally equivalent to the divergence of a Korteweg stress tensor. Unlike classical Korteweg stresses, which are typically attributed to molecular-scale cohesive potentials or implemented through assumed constitutive relations, we show that this emergent stress arises purely from self-coupled transport where the internal Ostroumov flow is kinematically coupled to the local density gradient. We derive explicit expressions for the effective stress coefficients, revealing a fundamental dependence on the Prandtl number and Grashof number. This correspondence is contrasted with classical Taylor dispersion, where the absence of self-coupling yields only a uniaxial stress. Although derived within a narrow-channel framework, our results establish a general hydrodynamic template for how quadratic gradient stresses can emerge from subscale, self-coupled flows, such as Marangoni or active-matter flows, offering a continuous transport-driven alternative to molecular mechanisms.