Fluid–structure interaction of human nasal valves under sniff conditions and transport of inhaled aerosols: A numerical study

Abstract

The nasal valve is the narrowest part of the nasal airway which is responsible for the largest part of the nasal resistance. Even little changes in the aperture can affect the flow downstream through the nose significantly. Its principal function is to limit airflow for example during a rapid and short inhalation, also called a sniff. Coupling Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) allows solving and exchanging force and displacement between the solid and fluid domains and offers a more accurate representation of the physical system in confined flow cases. Furthermore, particle transport and deposition are performed in this study to reveal the effect of the complex coupling on the nasal cavity deposition of inhaled aerosols. Two different configurations are used to model the nasal valve and differences in magnitudes in deformations are observed during the sniff. A comparison between FSI results and the in-vivo evaluation of the deformation shows an acceptable agreement as to the first step of validation. In addition, the results demonstrated that FSI increases significantly the particle deposition in the nasal cavity and the micro-particle diameter is the critical range parameter to enhance deposition with nasal valve deformation during a sniff.