Heat Transfer Analysis of Virus Transmission in Peristaltic Transport of Saliva

Abstract The study of H1N1 virus particle motion through saliva flow in the esophagus is a key factor in understanding the causes of various esophageal and throat infections. This research is crucial for advancing healthcare diagnostics, enhancing drug delivery systems, and improving infection control strategies. The aim of this study is to examine the influence of buoyancy-driven thermal effects on virus propagation within a confined biological environment. Saliva is modeled as a Jeffrey fluid to represent its viscoelastic rheological behavior. The flow is assumed to be low Reynolds number flow, driven by peristaltic pumping with large wavelength approximation. The energy equation evaluates temperature distribution and its impact on virus propagation, while the momentum equation incorporates thermal buoyancy forces. The Basset–Boussinesq–Oseen (BBO) equation describes the motion of H1N1 virus particles suspended in saliva, accounting for drag, gravity, added mass, and Basset forces. Zero pressure condition is applied at the inlet and outlet boundaries to reflect natural physiological flows. The effects of saliva viscosity, virus diameter, virus density, viscoelastic parameter, Grashof number, heat source parameter, and aspect ratio on velocity field and streamline patterns of saliva movement, and virus transmission, virus velocity, and virus trajectories are analyzed through computational results illustrated by matlab code. Results show that thermal buoyancy significantly alters flow dynamics and virus particle dispersion patterns, providing deeper insights into virus transmission mechanisms in thermally affected biological fluids. These findings have implications for biomedical applications, including targeted drug delivery, disease transmission modeling, and improved medical diagnostics design.