Effect of relaxation and retardation time on peristaltic transport of the Oldroydian viscoelastic fluid

The influence of relaxation and retardation time on peristaltic transport of an incompressible Oldroydian viscoelastic fluid by means of an infinite train of sinusoidal waves traveling along the walls of a two-dimensional flexible channel is investigated. A perturbation solution is obtained for the case in which the amplitude ratio (wave amplitude to channel half-width) is small. The results show that the values of the mean axial velocity of an Oldroydian viscoelastic fluid is smaller than that for a Newtonian fluid. The reflux phenomena are discussed. It is found that the critical reflux pressure gradient decreases with increasing retardation time and increases with increasing relaxation time. Numerical results are reported for different values of the physical parameters of interest.