The effect of wall absorption on dispersion in annular flows

Abstract

The effect of the irreversible boundary reaction on the dispersion of tracers in annular flows is studied. The solution of the mathematical model, based on the generalized dispersion model, brings out the dispersive transport following the injection of a tracer in terms of the three effective transport coefficients, viz. the exchange, the convection and the dispersion coefficients. It is found that the exchange and the convection coefficients are enhanced while the dispersion coefficient is reduced with the increase in the value of the absorption parameter. The mathematical model is applied to a specific problem in clinical medicine: dispersion of solutes in blood flow in a catheterized artery. The model predicts that the insertion of a catheter in general and any further increase in its size will enhance the process of the dyes or other solutes getting out of the blood vessels, and this is found to be independent of the absorption parameter representing the absorption properties of the blood vessel wall.