Fully developed flow of power-law fluid through a cylindrical microfluidic pipe: Pressure drop and electroviscous effects

Abstract

Pressure drop and electroviscous effects in the axisymmetric, steady, fully developed, pressure-driven flow of incompressible power-law fluids through a cylindrical microchannel at low Reynolds number (Re = 0.01) have been investigated. The Poisson-Boltzmann equation (describing the electrical potential) and the momentum equations in conjunction with electrical force and power-law fluid rheology have been solved numerically using the finite difference method. The pipe wall is considered to have uniform surface charge density (S = 4) and the liquid is assumed to be a symmetric electrolyte solution. In particular, the influence of the dimensionless inverse Debye length (K = 2,20) and power-law..