Peristaltic pumping under poroelastic confinement

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical 2D model of peristaltic flow confined under a poroelastic solid, revealing how material properties influence flow behavior and energy dissipation.

Contribution

It introduces a nonlinear analytical model of poroelastic-peristaltic flow, highlighting the effects of permeability, stiffness, and slip on fluid-structure interactions.

Findings

Poroelastic confinement inhibits peristaltic flow due to increased viscous dissipation.

Material properties determine regimes of forward or backward interstitial flow.

Maximum Darcy flow occurs at an optimal permeability value.

Abstract

Low Reynolds number flow near a poroelastic interface can be found across scales in biological and engineered systems. We develop a 2D model of peristaltic flow confined under a poroelastic solid. In this geometry, the lower boundary is an infinite train of traveling waves which pump fluid along a channel. The upper boundary of the flow is a poroelastic half space. The flow and deformation are solved analytically by an asymptotic expansion in the peristaltic amplitude and depend nonlinearly on dimensionless poroelastic stiffness, permeability, and interfacial slip. We quantify the effect of material properties on the poroelastic fluid-structure interaction. Peristaltic flow through the channel is inhibited by poroelastic confinement owing to increased viscous dissipation across the interface and energy loss in deforming the elastic solid. Permeability and slip interact with the material stiffness to produce material dependent regimes of forward or backward interstitial flow within the poroelastic domain. The maximum Darcy flow is found to occur at permeability values that optimize the elastic matrix interaction.