Helical fluid-particle flow dynamics for controlling micron-particle deposition in a representative human upper lung-airway model

Abstract

The transport and deposition of inhaled micron particles is largely determined by their inlet conditions, breathing rate, and the individual airway geometry. In this study, helical air-particle flow is introduced, which significantly affects the particle dynamics with applications to targeted drug delivery. Specifically, helical flow, which reduces axial momentum, can be controlled by varying the swirl number and hence the characteristics of the fluid-particle stream. In case of drug-aerosol delivery, the waste of inhaled drugs in the human upper respiratory tract due to inertial impaction can be mitigated by implementing a controlled helical flow with a modified inhaler. For example, 2 μm-particle deposition was reduced in the oral cavity for a helical fluid-particle stream with 10 l/min inhalation by 39.7% when the swirl number was increased from 0 to 0.6. Considering a 30 l/min inhalation flow rate, the deposition fraction of 2 μm-particles in the oral cavity was reduced by 73.5% as the swirl number increased from 0 to 2. A new non-dimensional parameter called the swirl number threshold (Sth), is also discussed, which is useful in assessing the impact of helical streams in drug-aerosol delivery. All computer experiments were performed with an enhanced version of the open-source computational fluid dynamics toolbox OpenFOAM.