Simulated airflow and rigid fiber behavior in a realistic nasal airway model

Particles may become airborne due to numerous natural and anthropogenic processes. The nose provides protection for the respiratory system through deposition that prevents particles from reaching more sensitive regions. A series of simulations have been conducted to better predict the deposition efficiency within the nasal passages. Computational fluid dynamics coupled with Lagrangian particle tracking have been used to estimate the deposition of both fibrous and spherical particles. MRI data was collected from the left and right passages of an adult male of mass 120.2 kg and height 181.6 cm. The two passages were constructed into separate computational volumes consisting of approximately 950,000 unstructured polyhedral cells each. A steady, incompressible, laminar flow model was used to simulate the inhalation portion of a human breathing cycle. Volumetric flow rates were varied to represent the full range of human nasal breathing. Qualitatively, the simulated airflow field was shown to agree wel...