The effect of wall absorption on dispersion in oscillatory flow in an annulus: application to a catheterized artery

Abstract

The effect of the irreversible boundary reaction on the dispersion of a tracer in an annular region in presence of oscillatory flow 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, the exchange, the convection and the dispersion coefficients. The 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 oscillatory flow augments the mass transfer and that an increase in the frequency parameter helps in the longitudinal dispersion of the dye. But the presence of the catheter and increase in the catheter size inhibit the dispersion process. Also, there is more absorption of solute at the wall as the catheter size increases.