Multiple particle-tracking techniques were used to quantify the thermally driven motion of ensembles of naked polystyrene (0.5 µm diameter) microbeads in order to determine the microrheological characteristics around the gut mucosa. The microbeads were introduced into living ex vivo preparations of the wall of the terminal ileum and proximal colon of the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)...

This paper is concerned with regular flows of incompressible weakly viscoelastic fluids which obey a differential constitutive law of Oldroyd type. We study the newtonian limit for weakly viscoelastic fluid flows in IR or T N for N = 2, 3, when the Weissenberg number (relaxation time measuring the elasticity effect in the fluid) tends to zero. More precisely, we prove that the velocity field an...

In this paper, we numerically study the dynamics of (1) a Newtonian liquid-filled capsule in a viscoelastic matrix and that of (2) a viscoelastic capsule in a Newtonian matrix in a linear shear flow using a front-tracking method. The numerical results for case (1) indicate that the polymeric fluid reduces the capsule deformation and aligns the deformed capsule with the flow direction. It also n...

We consider the displacement, in a rectangular channel, of a Newtonian oil pushed by different types of liquids (Newtonian, shear-thinning, viscoelastic) of slightly higher apparent viscosity. In the absence of viscoelastic effects the interface between the two fluids becomes sharper at larger velocities, so that the thickness of the lateral film left behind increases with the flow rate. On the...

The creeping motion through a circular tube of neutrally buoyant Newtonian drops which have an undeformed radius comparable to that of the tube was studied experimentally. Both a Newtonian and a viscoelastic suspending fluid were used in order to determine the influence ofviscoelasticity. The extra pressure drop owing to the presence of the suspended drops, the shape and velocity of the drops, ...

A mathematical model of unsteady non-Newtonian blood flow in an artery under stenotic condition has been developed. The flowing blood is considered to be a viscoelastic fluid characterized by the Oldroyd-B model and the arterial wall is considered to be rigid, having cosine-shaped stenosis. The governing equations of motion accompanied by appropriate choice of the initial and boundary condition...

We measure the swimming speed of a cylindrical version of Taylor's swimming sheet in viscoelastic fluids, and find that depending on the rheology, the speed can either increase or decrease relative to the speed in a Newtonian viscous fluid. The swimming stroke of the sheet is a prescribed propagating wave that travels along the sheet in the azimuthal direction. The measurements are performed wi...

Many small organisms self-propel in viscous fluids using travelling wave-like deformations of their bodies or appendages. Examples include small nematodes moving through soil using whole-body undulations or spermatozoa swimming through mucus using flagellar waves. When self-propulsion occurs in a non-Newtonian fluid, one fundamental question is whether locomotion will occur faster or slower tha...

The paper presents results of an experimental study of the fluid velocity field in a stirred tank equipped with a Prochem Maxflo T (PMT) type impeller which was rotating at a constant frequency of N = 4.1 or 8.2 s-1 inducing transitional (Re = 499 or 1307) or turbulent (Re = 2.43 × 104) flow of the fluid. The experiments were performed for a Newtonian fluid (water) and a non-Newtonian fluid (0....

In this paper we discuss simulation techniques for a rising bubble in viscoelastic fluids via numerical methods based on high order FEM. A level set approach based on the work in [9] is used for interface tracking between the bubble and the surrounding fluid. The two matters obey the Newtonian and the Oldroyd-B constitutive law in the case of a viscoelastic fluid while the flow model is given b...