Non-Newtonian effects in the peristaltic flow of a Maxwell fluid.

We analyzed the effect of viscoelasticity on the dynamics of fluids in porous media by studying the flow of a Maxwell fluid in a circular tube, in which the flow is induced by a wave traveling on the tube wall. The present paper investigates phenomena brought about into the classic peristaltic mechanism by inclusion of non-Newtonian effects that are important, e.g., for hydrocarbons. This problem has numerous applications in various branches of science, including the stimulation of fluid flow in a porous media under the effect of elastic waves and studies of blood flow dynamics in living creatures. We have found that in the extreme non-Newtonian regime, there is a possibility of a fluid flow in the direction opposite to the propagation of the wave traveling on the tube wall.