Non-Newtonian Fluid Flows
Summary
Non-Newtonian fluids encompass a wide class of materials whose viscosity and stress response vary with shear rate, time or external fields, departing from the constant-viscosity behaviour of Newtonian liquids. Common examples include polymer solutions, biological suspensions, drilling muds and colloidal slurries. Depending on molecular structure and interactions, these fluids may shear-thin (viscosity decreases with shear rate), shear-thicken (viscosity increases) or exhibit viscoelasticity (combined fluid- and solid-like response). Yield-stress fluids behave as solids below a threshold stress and flow above it. The resulting flow phenomena—modified boundary layers, delayed transition to turbulence, secondary vortices and normal-stress differences—profoundly influence processes from polymer extrusion and coating to enhanced oil recovery and biomedical transport. Advances in constitutive modelling, high-fidelity simulations and advanced diagnostics (e.g. micro-PIV, rheo-NMR) have elucidated how dimensionless groups such as the Weissenberg, Bingham and capillary numbers govern stability, mixing and heat or mass transfer. This knowledge underpins optimisation of industrial reactors, heat exchangers and microfluidic devices where controlling complex fluid flows is essential.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent studies have focused on peristaltic transport and its coupling with magnetohydrodynamic and microstructural effects in complex fluids. One investigation of MHD peristaltic flow in a micropolar nanofluid demonstrated how thermophoresis and Brownian motion jointly govern nanoparticle dispersion, while magnetic field strength and microrotation parameters can be tuned to control shear stress and heat flux in asymmetric channels. A related work on Jeffrey fluids in porous-wall channels incorporated activation-energy models and chemical reactions, revealing dual-branch solutions for velocity and temperature distributions under velocity and thermal slip conditions. More recently, peristaltic pumping of Rabinowitsch fluids in inclined channels under oblique magnetic fields has shown that field inclination and magnetisation laws critically alter wave propagation and convective heat transfer, offering guidelines for magnetically assisted micro-pumps and endoscopic applications.
Non-Newtonian Fluid Flows publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in non-newtonian fluid flows across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Non-Newtonian fluid: A fluid whose apparent viscosity changes with shear rate, shear history or applied fields, rather than remaining constant.
Shear-thinning: Behaviour in which viscosity decreases as shear rate increases, common in polymer solutions and blood.
Viscoelasticity: A response combining viscous flow and elastic stress storage, characterised by relaxation times and normal stresses.
Weissenberg number: Dimensionless ratio of elastic to viscous forces, indicating the prominence of fluid memory effects.
Nusselt number: Dimensionless measure of convective heat transfer relative to conduction across a boundary layer.
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): Study of fluid flow under magnetic fields, where Lorentz forces modify pressure and shear distributions.
References
- Heat and mass transfer for MHD peristaltic flow in a micropolar nanofluid: mathematical model with thermophysical features. Scientific Reports (2022).
- Impact of activation energy and variable properties on peristaltic flow through porous wall channel. Scientific Reports (2023).
- Influence of inclined magnetic field and heat transfer on the peristaltic flow of Rabinowitsch fluid model in an inclined channel. Scientific Reports (2024).
- Thermal entry flow problem for Rabinowitsch fluid subject to circular tube and flat channel with uniform heat flux boundary conditions. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (2023).
- Analytical solution for channel flow of a Giesekus fluid with non-zero solvent viscosity. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (2023).
- Full Solutions to Flow and Heat Transfer from Slip-Induced Microtube Shapes. Micromachines (2023).
About these summaries
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