Study on the effect of wall structures and peristalsis of bionic reactor on mixing

Abstract

Little is known so far about the effects of different inner wall’s structures and peristalsis modes of bionic reactors on fluid mixing. In this study, the small intestine model reactors (SIMR) with different structures of the inner wall are proposed and simulated. The results showed that the mixing level of the fluid in the SIMR with villi or villi plus folds is the highest. The dimensionless villi spacing of 0.014 and height of 0.1 for villi are optimal for mixing intensification. The symmetric peristalsis is more advantageous to the mixing intensification compared to the asymmetric peristalsis. In addition, both the peristalsis modes show much better mixing performance than convection and diffusion. It was also found that the mixing effects of fluids highly depend on the peristaltic velocity, amplitude, and position. The results give insight for the design and optimization of bionic reactors and dynamic in vitro digestion models.