Numerical analysis of respiratory flow patterns within human upper airway

• Published in: Acta mechanica Sinica 2009-12, Vol.25 (6), p.737-746
• Main Authors: Wang, Ying, Liu, Yingxi, Sun, Xiuzhen, Yu, Shen, Gao, Fei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Airways; Bifurcations; Classical and Continuum Physics; Computational Intelligence; Engineering; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Holes; Larynx; Mathematical models; Pharynx; Research Paper; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Walls; 上呼吸道; 呼吸系统; 壁面剪切应力; 数值分析; 相互作用模型; 计算流体力学
• ISSN: 0567-7718; 1614-3116
• DOI: 10.1007/s10409-009-0283-1

A computational fluid dynamics （CFD） approach is used to study the respiratory airflow dynamics within a human upper airway. The airway model which consists of the airway from nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx and trachea to triple bifurcation is built based on the CT images of a healthy volunteer and the Weibel model. The flow character- istics of the whole upper airway are quantitatively described at any time level of respiratory cycle. Simulation results of respiratory flow show good agreement with the clinical mea- sures, experimental and computational results in the litera- ture. The air mainly passes through the floor of the nasal cavity in the common, middle and inferior nasal meatus. The higher airway resistance and wall shear stresses are distrib- uted on the posterior nasal valve. Although the airways of pharynx, larynx and bronchi experience low shear stresses, it is notable that relatively high shear stresses are distrib- uted on the wall of epiglottis and bronchial bifurcations. Besides, two-dimensional fluid-structure interaction models of normal and abnormal airways are built to discuss the flow-induced deformation in various anatomy models. The result shows that the wall deformation in normal airway is relatively small.