On the influence of wall properties and Poiseuille flow in peristalsis

The present study extends the two-dimensional analysis of peristaltic motion by Fung and Yih to include an elastic or viscoelastic wall, and a Poiseuille flow. This fluid-solid interaction problem is investigated by considering equations of motion of both the fluid and the deformable boundaries. The wall characteristics appear in their equations of motion, which are solved to represent boundary conditions of fluid motion. The influence of Poiseuille flow on pure peristalisis is also investigated.

The phenomenon of the ‘mean flow reversal’ is found to exist both at the center and at the boundaries of the channel. When the walls of the channel are elastic, pure peristalsis involves flow reversal only at the center. This position may shift drastically to the boundaries, if viscous damping forces are considered.