Aerosol Particle Deposition in the Lungs: Effect of Breathing Patterns

Abstract

The present work focuses on the study of particle deposition in the human lung under different breathing patterns. Transport and deposition of particles, with diameters from a few nanometers to several micrometers, is calculated using a well validated, 1-D, fully Eulerian, mechanistic numerical model that solves the particle general dynamic equation in the whole lung taking into account breathing dynamics. The examined breathing patterns include normal breathing and a variety of abnormal ones with tidal volumes and/or breathing frequencies outside the normal ranges. The numerical experiments indicate that breathing patterns do not alter significantly whole lung deposition fraction. They do, however, affect where the deposited particles are located within the lung, and the effect varies for different sized particles.