Biorheological aspects of colonic activity¹

Subtitle: Part II. Experimental investigation of the rheological behavior of human feces

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Patel, P.D. | Picologlou, B.F. | Lykoudis, P.S.

Affiliations: School of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Engineering Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906

Note: [1] 1st International Congress of Biorheology, Lyon, France, 4–8 September 1972

Abstract: In order to understand colonic activity, the rheological properties of the colonic contents are needed. A suitable tube viscometer was constructed and viscometric measurements on human feces were performed. The results indicate that, at sufficiently high shear rates, the feces behave as a power law fluid, i.e. Shear Stress ∼ (Shear Rate)m. For these shear rates the exponent m was approximately the same for all samples tested, regardless of their consisLcncy, and equal to 0.25.

DOI: 10.3233/BIR-1973-10318

Journal: Biorheology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 441-445, 1973