Flow of a Bingham fluid in a porous bed under the action of a magnetic field: Application to magneto-hemorheology

Abstract

The study deals with an investigation of the flow of a Bingham plastic fluid in a porous bed under the action of an external magnetic field. Porosity of the bed has been described by considering Brinkman model. Both steady and pulsatile motion of this non-Newtonian fluid have been analysed. The governing equations are solved numerically by developing a suitable finite difference scheme. As an application of the theory in the field of magneto-hemorheology, the said physical variables have been computed by considering the values of the involved parameters for blood flow in a pathological state, when the system is under the action of an external magnetic field. The pathological state corresponds to a situation, where the lumen of an arterial segment has turned into a porous structure due to formation of blood clots. Numerical estimates are obtained for the velocity profile and volumetric flow rate of blood, as well as for the shear stress, in the case of blood flow in a diseased artery, both the velocity and volumetric flow rate diminish, as the strength of the external magnetic field is enhanced. The study further shows that blood velocity is maximum in the plug (core) region. It decreases monotonically as the particles of blood travel towards the wall. The study also bears the potential of providing numerical estimates for many industrial fluids that follow Bingham plastic model, when the values of different parameters are chosen appropriately.