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Poiseuille Flow

This document discusses Poiseuille flow, which is the steady laminar flow of a viscous fluid through a channel or pipe. It presents the derivation of the equations for flow rate as a function of pressure gradient and channel/pipe dimensions. The key results are that flow rate is directly proportional to the fourth power of the channel/pipe radius or width, so even modest reductions in size can significantly decrease flow rate. This dependence has important implications for how plaque buildup in arteries can substantially reduce blood flow.

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81 views

Poiseuille Flow

This document discusses Poiseuille flow, which is the steady laminar flow of a viscous fluid through a channel or pipe. It presents the derivation of the equations for flow rate as a function of pressure gradient and channel/pipe dimensions. The key results are that flow rate is directly proportional to the fourth power of the channel/pipe radius or width, so even modest reductions in size can significantly decrease flow rate. This dependence has important implications for how plaque buildup in arteries can substantially reduce blood flow.

Uploaded by

suvarnscribd
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Poiseuille flow

We'll start with the flow of a viscous fluid in a channel. The channel has a width in
the y-direction of a, a length in the z-direction of   , and a length in the x-direction, the
direction of flow, of . There is a pressure drop along the length of the channel, so that
the constant pressure gradient is (such a pressure gradient could be supplied by
gravity, for instance). Assuming the flow to be steady,   . Also, we'll assume
that the flow is of the form ; then . The no-slip boundary condition at the top and
bottom edges of the channel reads   . The Navier-Stokes equation
then becomes

  

Integrating twice, we obtain

  

where   and   are integration constants. To determine these, we impose the


boundary conditions to obtain

  

We see that the velocity profile is a parabola, with the fluid in the center of the
channel having the greatest speed. Once we know the velocity profile we can
determine the flow rate Q, defined as the volume of fluid which passes a cross section
of the channel per unit time. This is obtained by integrating the velocity profile over
the cross sectional area of the channel:

  

The analogous result for flow through a pipe of radius a and length l in the presence
of a uniform pressure gradient   is
  

The important feature of both of these results is the sensitive dependence upon either
the channel width a or the pipe radius a. For instance, for a pipe with a fixed pressure
gradient, a 20% reduction in the pipe radius leads to a 60% reduction of the flow rate!
This clearly has important physiological implications -- small amounts of plaque
accumulation in arteries can lead to very large reductions in the rate of blood flow.

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