Peristaltic propulsion of generalized Burgers’ fluids through a non-uniform porous medium: A study of chyme dynamics through the diseased intestine

• Peristaltic transport of viscoelastic fluids through a non-uniform porous channel has been studied.
• Pressure for small values of the averaged flow rate reduces with increasing permeability parameter.
• Pressure decreases with increasing first fractional parameter whereas opposite with second parameter.
• An increase in non-uniformity constant increases friction force.
• A decrease in permeability serves to reduce the magnitude of the trapped secondary boluses.

A mathematical study of the peristaltic flow of complex rheological viscoelastic fluids using the generalized fractional Burgers’ model through a non-uniform channel is presented. This model is designed to study the movement of chyme and undigested chyme (biophysical waste materials) through the small intestine to the large intestine. To simulate blockages and impedance of debris generated by cell shedding, infections, adhesions on the wall and undigested material, a drag force porous media model is utilized. This effectively mimicks resistance to chyme percolation generated by solid matrix particles in the regime. The conduit geometry is mathematically simulated as a sinusoidal propagation with linear increment in shape of the bolus along the length of channel. A modified Darcy–Brinkman model is employed to simulate the generalized flows through isotropic, homogenous porous media, a simplified but physically robust approximation to actual clinical situations. To model the rheological properties of chyme, a viscoelastic Burgers’ fluid formulation is adopted. The governing equations are simplified by assuming long wavelength and low Reynolds number approximations. Numerical and approximate analytical solutions are obtained with two semi-numerical techniques, namely the homotopy perturbation method and the variational iteration method. Visualization of the results is achieved with Mathematica software. The influence of the dominant hydromechanical and geometric parameters such as fractional viscoelastic parameters, wave number, non-uniformity constant, permeability parameter, and material constants on the peristaltic flow characteristics are depicted graphically.