Turbulence in Pulsatile Flow through the Tube with Elastic Wall

Summary

Effects of the radial wall motion of a thin-walled straight rubber tube conveying pulsatile flow of water on the fluctuations of flow velocity were studied experimentally using hot-film anemometer. In order to detect the radial motion of outer wall of tube, a non-contacting gap sensor was used. It was shown that the compliance of wall of test tube depends on the transmural pressure of tube(i.e. inner minus outer pressures). The results show that the correlation between fluctuation of flow velocity and the wall motion of tube is classified roughly into two parts according to the mean transmural pressure. In the region that the mean transmural pressure is positive, the tube wall deforms elastically, and motion of tube wall suppresses the disturbance of flow. While, in the region where the mean transmural pressure is zero or negative, the motion of tube wall becomes more complicate. Non-elastic deformation of tube wall is accompanied by partially elastic deformation and the wall motion increases the disturbance of flow.