Air Flow and Solid Particle Deposition Patterns in a Lung Airway Model
H. Liang, Y. Li, C. Zhang and J. Zhu
The flow fields in human lung airways are very complicated due to the geometrical structure of human lung airways. In order to obtain the accurate information on flow fields and particle deposition patterns in human lung airways, a lung airway model that represents human mouth-laryngeal part and five upper generations of bronchi parts is studied here. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of airflow and particle concentration in the lung airway model is carried out. The study shows that for ultra fine particles, the geometrical structure of the lung airway model is the dominant factor affecting the airflow fields and particle deposition patterns in lung airways. In addition, the local airflow velocities have great influence on particle deposition patterns as well. Most particles are deposited at the mouth part and in the first generation of the lung airway model.
Keywords: CFD, Lung airway, Gas-solid flow, Two-phase flow, Turbulence, Numerical simulation