Flow of a Bingham fluid in a pipe of variable radius

We extend a method developed by Fusi and Farina (Appl. Math. Comp. 320, 1–15, 2018) to obtain semi-analytical lubrication-approximation solutions for the flow of a Bingham-plastic in a tube of variable radius. The proposed method is applicable provided that the unyielded core extends continuously from the inlet to the outlet. It turns out that the variable radius of the latter core obeys a stiff integral-algebraic equation which is solved both numerically and asymptotically. The pressure distribution is then obtained integrating a 1st-order ODE and the velocity components are computed using analytical expressions. Converging or diverging either linearly or exponentially, undulating and stenosed tubes are considered. The effects of the shape of the wall on the yield surface which separates the yielded region from the unyielded core and on the pressure difference required to drive the flow are investigated and discussed. The results show that the effect of the wall variation amplitude is greatly amplified as the volumetric flow rate (or, equivalently, the imposed pressure difference driving the flow) increases. It is also demonstrated that the pressure difference needed to achieve a given volumetric flow rate in a converging pipe is always higher than that for a diverging one.