Particulate suspension slip flow induced by peristaltic waves in a rectangular duct: Effect of lateral walls

This paper looks at the influence of lateral walls on peristaltic transport of a particle fluid suspension model applied in a non-uniform rectangular duct with slip boundaries. The peristaltic waves propagate on the horizontal sidewalls of a rectangular duct. The flow analysis has been developed for low Reynolds number and long wavelength approximation. Exact solutions have been established for the axial velocity and stream function. The effects of aspect the ratio β (ratio of height to width) and the volume fraction density of the particles C on the pumping characteristics are discussed in detail. The expressions for the pressure rise and friction forces on the wall of a rectangular duct were computed numerically and were plotted with variation of the flow rate for different values of the parameters. It is observed that in the peristaltic pumping (Δp>0,Q>0) and retrograde pumping (Δp>0,Q<0) regions the pumping rate increases with an increase in M, while in the copumping region (Δp<0,Q>0) the behavior is quite opposite. Furthermore it is also observed that the pressure rise increases in the upper half of the channel and decreases in the lower half of the channel with the increase in lslip parameter.