Method of moments for laminar dispersion in an oscillatory flow through curved channels with absorbing walls

The unsteady dispersion of a solute, when the fluid is driven through a curved channel with absorbing walls by an imposed pulsatile pressure gradient, is studied using the method of moments. The study examines the effect of oscillatory Reynolds number, amplitude/frequency of the pressure pulsation and boundary absorption on the longitudinal dispersion. The methodology involves a set of unsteady integral moment equations obtained by applying the Aris-Barton method of moments on the convective-diffusion equation for a curved channel. Central moments are obtained from the moment equations which are solved by a finite-difference implicit scheme. The effect of curvature and boundary absorption on the effective dispersion coefficient from the initial to the stationary stage of the oscillatory flow is studied. Amplitude of the effective dispersion coefficient is found to increase with curvature and decrease with frequency of the pressure pulsation. For large Peclet number and Schmidt number, the amplitude of the dispersion coefficient can be 1.6 times that in a straight channel at large times. Also, for large times, the amplitude of the dispersion coefficient is twice the amplitude of the dispersion coefficient as α, the frequency parameter changes from 0.5 to 1.0. The axial distributions of mean concentration are determined from the first four central moments by using the Hermite polynomial representation. The effect of curvature is to delay the stationary state and also the approach to normality of the concentration distribution. The study has importance in understanding the spreading of pollutants in tidal basins and natural current fields.