A numerical study of peristaltic flows

Abstract The Ψ-ω form of Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically for two dimensional peristaltic flow. A new and simple nonlinear streamline quadrature upwinding noniterative Ψ-ω finite element method has been employed for flow analysis. The velocity, pressure and stress fields for various peristaltic flows are obtained. The results are compared with those of perturbation analysis and finite difference analysis. The influence of the magnitude of the wave amplitude, wave length and Reynolds number on the flow are investigated. The stress analysis indicates that the progressive waves with high amplitude and low wave numbers generate peristaltic flows with high shear stress variations. The present study also reveals that applied external magnetic field can control such severe stress variations.