The Flow of Newtonian Fluids in Axisymmetric Corrugated Tubes

TL;DR

This paper presents an analytical approach to model laminar Newtonian fluid flow in axially-symmetric corrugated tubes, applicable to various geometries and useful for numerical methods when analytical solutions are difficult.

Contribution

It introduces a general analytical method for relating flow rate and pressure drop in corrugated tubes, extending to complex geometries and supporting numerical integration.

Findings

Derived relations for flow and pressure in simple geometries

Applicable to a wide range of tube shapes

Supports numerical solutions for complex geometries

Abstract

This article deals with the flow of Newtonian fluids through axially-symmetric corrugated tubes. An analytical method to derive the relation between volumetric flow rate and pressure drop in laminar flow regimes is presented and applied to a number of simple tube geometries of converging-diverging nature. The method is general in terms of fluid and tube shape within the previous restrictions. Moreover, it can be used as a basis for numerical integration where analytical relations cannot be obtained due to mathematical difficulties.