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Development of an electro‐osmotic flow model to study the dynamic behaviour in human meridian
Author(s) -
Sheu Tony W. H.,
Huang Vincent C.,
Rani H. P.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.1554
Subject(s) - meridian (astronomy) , fluid dynamics , mechanics , blood flow , physics , materials science , medicine , astronomy
A numerical study has been performed on the proposed bio‐fluid dynamics model to explore and provide some human meridian characteristics. The proposed meridian model involves tissue fluids, which contain ions and nutrition, in the meridian passage. The tissue fluid under investigation can interact with the blood in the capillary vessel at the acupuncture points a through a complex electro‐osmosis transport process occurring in the meridian path. The investigated physical domain consists of a meridian path having three acupuncture points, namely, gall bladder 37, 38, 39, which are connected with their associated small meridian bodies. Based on the proper physiological coefficients, the simulated mean velocity of the tissue fluid has the result of 3.37 cm/min, and is observed to increase and decrease with the hydraulic pressure of the arteriole with the maximum and minimum values of 4.34 and 2.40 cm/min, respectively. Our simulated results are in good agreement with the experimental findings reported in the literature. In the meridian, both blood and tissue fluid flows exhibited complex electro‐osmosis nonlinear behaviour. The immediate response due to the externally applied acupuncture is analysed to reveal the elliptic meridian nature, which is intrinsic in the body fluid. The interaction between the body fluid and blood is as the master and mother, and the influence of the blood circulation on the meridian system and vice versa are also analysed in detail. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.