On peristaltic motion of pseudoplastic fluid in a curved channel with heat/mass transfer and wall properties

•Peristaltic motion of shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids through a curved channel.•Elastic properties of the channel walls are considered.•A regular perturbation method is used for the analytical analysis.•Symmetry of the profiles in the upper and lower halves of the channel is destroyed in curved channel.•Present model has importance in the blood flow through micro-circulatory system.

This work addresses the combined effect of wall properties and heat/mass transfer on the peristaltic motion of pseudoplastic (shear-thinning/shear-thickening) fluid in a curved channel. The mathematical model is simplified through the assumption of long wavelength of the peristaltic wave compared to the mean half-width of the channel. Series solutions for stream function, temperature and concentration of species are derived. In contrast to the case of planar channel, the profiles are not symmetric about the central line of the curved channel. The size of the trapped bolus is different in the upper and lower halves of the curved channel. Moreover the number of circulations increase/decrease in the upper/lower half of the channel when the case of planar channel is approached.