A NUMERICAL STUDY OF NON-ISOTHERMAL PERISTALTIC FLOW OF POWER-LAW FLUIDS IN A CIRCULAR TUBE

Non-isothermal peristaltic flow of power-law fluids in a circular tube is investigated numerically, using a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software package that employs the Finite Volume Method. Simulation is performed over the range of Reynolds-number values from 1 to 100. Temperature effect on the flow field is via fluid viscosity, which is assumed to decrease exponentially with temperature. Also, except for viscosity, other fluid properties are assumed to be constant, and are similar to those of an oil. Over a range of the power-law index covering fluid behaviour from shear-thinning, through Newtonian, to shear-thickening, it is found that allowing for temperature effects has significantly altered the flow pattern and pressure variation, even when the corresponding changes in temperature itself are small. Around the crest region, recirculation appears in non-isothermal flow at all power-law-index and Reynolds-number values considered in this work, in contrast to isothermal situations.