Lubrication effects on the peristaltic motion of a couple stress fluid in an asymmetric channel

Abstract

The present article deals with theoretical analysis on the peristaltic transport of a couple stress fluid with lubrication on the walls of the channel. The walls are coated with thin layer of power-law lubricant and the condition arised by the coating is modelled by taking the continuity of velocity and shear stresses of both the fluids at the fluid–fluid interface. The flow problem is discussed in two-dimensional asymmetric medium assuming long wavelength and low Reynolds number. Closed form solutions for velocity, stream function and flow rate are discussed. The numerical solutions for pressure rise, trapping and reflux are discussed. The effects of lubricant parameter, couple stress parameter, phase difference, wave amplitudes and flow rate are discussed for symmetric and asymmetric channels. It is observed that by increasing the lubrication effects, pressure rise increases in the pumping region and for trapping, boluses disappear and streamlines become parallel to the walls of the channel. From the given flow problem, the limiting cases of no-slip and viscous flow are presumed and found to be in excellent agreement with the existing literature.