Insights into metachronal propulsion's influence on Ellis fluid flow across tri‐layers amid dynamic thermal transport: Theoretical study

Abstract

Cilia‐based therapies are emerging for treating ciliopathies, such as inhalable drugs to propel mucus out of the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis. This has motivated scientists and researchers to investigate cilia motion mechanics and viscoelastic fluid properties for biomedical engineering applications and disease treatments. In line with the diverse biological implications, this study focuses on the mass and heat transfer flow of tri‐layered non‐Newtonian fluids propelled by ciliary beating in a cylindrical tube. The fluid remains incompressible, with distinct layers that do not mix. The study considers the impact of mass and heat transfer in three distinct regimes, ensuring continuity at the interfaces. Mathematical modeling incorporating the lubrication approximation, small Reynolds number, and long wavelength approximation is employed for simplification. The resulting differential equations, along with boundary conditions, yield accurate solutions for temperature, velocity, and concentration fields in the three fluid layers and are discussed graphically. Key findings demonstrate that velocity and temperature fields are most pronounced in the inner fluid layer (PCL), while the concentration profile is most prominent in the outer layers (ACL), with moderate behavior in the central region. The implications of this research extend to diverse fields, including mucus clearance from the respiratory tract, microfluidics, esophageal transport, biofluid mechanics, and other areas of physiology. The insights gained from this study have promising applications in developing new treatments and biomedical engineering solutions.