Immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of muco-ciliary transport: effect of mucus depth at various amounts of cilia beat frequency

Abstract

Numerical simulation based on immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method has been employed to study 2D muco-ciliary transport problem. The periciliary liquid (PCL) and mucus layers in this study are considered as the Newtonian and viscoelastic fluid respectively. An Oldroyd-B model is used as the constitutive equations of mucus layer. To simulate accurate effects of the cilia and PCL-mucus interface on the fluid, immersed boundary method is used. Numerical simulations have been performed to investigate the effects of mucus depth on the muco-ciliary clearance at various values of cilia beat frequencies. Our results show that, by increasing mucus depth, which results from air pollution and smoking, mean mucus velocity decreases. But it can be completely modified by increasing cilia beat frequency and the cilia beat frequency has great effect on the muco-ciliary clearance.