On pressure-driven Hele–Shaw flow of power-law fluids

We analyze the asymptotic behavior of a non-Newtonian Stokes system, posed in a Hele–Shaw cell, i.e. a thin three-dimensional domain which is confined between two curved surfaces and contains a cylindrical obstacle. The fluid is assumed to be of power-law type defined by the exponent 1< p<∞. By letting the thickness of the domain tend to zero we obtain a generalized form of the Poiseuille law, i.e. the limit velocity is a nonlinear function of the limit pressure gradient. The flow is assumed to be driven by an external pressure which is applied as a normal stress along the lateral part of the boundary. On the remaining part of the boundary we impose a no-slip condition. The two-dimensional limit problem for the pressure is a generalized form of the p′-Laplace equation, 1/p+1/p'=1, with a coefficient called ‘flow factor’, which depends on the geometry as well as the power-law exponent. The boundary conditions are preserved in the limit as a Dirichlet condition for the pressure on the lateral boundary and as a Neumann condition for the pressure on the solid obstacle.