Numerical simulation of particle deposition in the human nasal cavity

Abstract

This paper presents the results of numerical simulation of airflow with suspended particles through a human nasal cavity. The stationary and nonstationary problem statements were considered. Within the nonstationary case, two variants were studied: for the first variant, the breath cycle is taken with symmetric inhale/exhale, and for the second variant, we modelled a real asymmetric breath cycle. The solution was based on Navier-Stokes equations for laminar flow of incompressible gas. Particle flow is described using the Lagrangean approach with account for Brownian motion. Numerical simulation results were compared with experimental and simulation data from other authors. Results for different variants of problem statement were compared. Asymmetry of breath cycle should be accounted in calculation of particle deposition efficiency. A simple rule was found that replaces the computation-consuming nonstationary calculation with three stationary flow calculations.