Generalized dispersion in a synovial fluids of human joints

Abstract

An unsteady convective diffusion in a synovial fluid of human joints modeled as a power-law fluid is studied using the generalized dispersion model of Gill and Sankara-subramanian. The contributions of convection and diffusion, and pure convection on the dispersion of nutrient are investigated in detail. It is shown that the effect of decrease in non-Newtonian parameter is to decrease the dispersion coefficient. The mean concentration distribution appears to increase as the non-Newtonian parameter decreases upto a certain value of the axial distance. Beyond this point, however, the reverse pattern is observed.