Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T01:13:48.722Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Steady flow in a helically symmetric pipe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2002

L. ZABIELSKI
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, Imperial College, 180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 2BZ, UK
A. J. MESTEL
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, Imperial College, 180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 2BZ, UK

Abstract

Fully developed flow in an infinite helically coiled pipe is studied, motivated by physiological applications. Most of the bends in the mammalian arterial system curve in a genuinely three-dimensional way, so that the arterial centreline has not only curvature but torsion and can be modelled by a helix. Flow in a helically symmetric pipe generalizes related problems in axisymmetry (Dean flow) and two-dimensionality, but the geometry ensures that even irrotational flow has a cross-pipe component. Fully developed helical flows driven by a steady pressure gradient are studied analytically and numerically. Varying the radius and pitch of the helical pipe, the effects of curvature and torsion on the flow are investigated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)