Computational fluid dynamics simulation and visualization of Newtonian and non-Newtonian transport in a peristaltic micro-pump

El Gendy, M; Beg, OA; Kadir, A; Islam, MN; Tripathi, D

Abstract

Motivated by recent developments in bio-inspired medical engineering microscale pumps, in
the present article a 3-dimensional sequential simulation of a peristaltic micro-pump is
described to provide deeper insight into the hydromechanics of laminar, viscous flow in
peristaltic propulsion. The Carreau and power-law models are employed for non-Newtonian
behavior. The commercial software package ANSYS Fluent is utilized to conduct a numerical
simulation of laminar peristaltic pump fluid dynamics, based on the finite volume method and
steady space laminar solver. Details are provided for the geometric pump design (conducted
with AUTOCAD), pre-processing (meshing) and necessary boundary conditions to simulate
the peristaltic flow within the pump. Extensive visualization of velocity, pressure and vorticity
contours is included. The present simulations provide a benchmark for future comparison with
experimental studies and indeed more advanced numerical simulations with alternative nonNewtonian models. Applications of the study include biomimetic blood flow pumps, blood
dialysis machines, microscale infusion pumps etc.

Citation

El Gendy, M., Beg, O., Kadir, A., Islam, M., & Tripathi, D. (2021). Computational fluid dynamics simulation and visualization of Newtonian and non-Newtonian transport in a peristaltic micro-pump. Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, 21(8), 2150058. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219519421500585

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 28, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Oct 20, 2021
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jul 29, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 20, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology
• Print ISSN: 0219-5194
• Electronic ISSN: 1793-6810
• Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 2150058
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219519421500585
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1142/S0219519421500585
• Related Public URLs: https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/jmmb
• Additional Information: Access Information : Electronic version of an article published as Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, Vol. 21, Issue 08, 2150058, doi: 10.1142/S0219519421500585 © copyright World Scientific Publishing Company 2021 https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/jmmb.