2 research outputs found
Peristaltic Transport of a Rheological Fluid: Model for Movement of Food Bolus Through Esophagus
Fluid mechanical peristaltic transport through esophagus has been of concern
in the paper. A mathematical model has been developed with an aim to study the
peristaltic transport of a rheological fluid for arbitrary wave shapes and tube
lengths. The Ostwald-de Waele power law of viscous fluid is considered here to
depict the non-Newtonian behaviour of the fluid. The model is formulated and
analyzed with the specific aim of exploring some important information
concerning the movement of food bolus through the esophagus. The analysis has
been carried out by using lubrication theory. The study is particularly
suitable for cases where the Reynolds number is small. The esophagus is treated
as a circular tube through which the transport of food bolus takes places by
periodic contraction of the esophageal wall. Variation of different variables
concerned with the transport phenomena such as pressure, flow velocity,
particle trajectory and reflux are investigated for a single wave as well as
for a train of periodic peristaltic waves. Locally variable pressure is seen to
be highly sensitive to the flow index `n'. The study clearly shows that
continuous fluid transport for Newtonian/rheological fluids by wave train
propagation is much more effective than widely spaced single wave propagation
in the case of peristaltic movement of food bolus in the esophagus.Comment: Accepted for publication in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (AMM),
Springe