Peristaltic pumping of a second-order fluid in a planar channel

The peristaltic motion of a non-Newtonian fluid represented by the constitutive equation for a second-order fluid was studied for the case of a planar channel with harmonically undulating extensible walls. A perturbation series for the parameter δ (δ ≡ half-width of channel/wave length) obtained explicit terms of 0(δ²), 0(δ²Re²) and 0(λ₁Reδ²) respectively representing curvature, inertia and the non-Newtonian character of the fluid. Numerical computations were performed and compared to the perturbation analysis in order to determine the range of validity of the terms.