Publication Abstract

Effects of Non-planarity on Secondary Flows in the Small Bronchial Tubes (Abstract Only)

Soni, B., Lindley, C., & Thompson, D. (2007). Effects of Non-planarity on Secondary Flows in the Small Bronchial Tubes (Abstract Only). Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences . 71st Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, Mississippi State, MS: Mississippi Academy of Sciences. 52(1).

Abstract

Laminar flow in the small bronchial tubes, characterized by a Reynolds number range of approximately 100 to 1000, is quite complex due to the presence of vortex-dominated secondary flows that play a critical but poorly understood role in the filtration of entrained particles from inhaled air. Contributing to the complexity of the problem is the geometry of the bronchial network, which contains nonplanar, multi-generational branching. The out-of-plane branch angles are randomly distributed in a manner that allows the bronchial network to fill the space available in the chest cavity without intersections. In this paper, we present the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations for steady-state inhalation flow in four three-generation geometries. Since the branching angles are randomly distributed in, we limit this study to only cases for which the branching occurs in the plane perpendicular to the previous branch or the plane of the previous branch. Various fluid dynamical properties are employed to describe the differences between the flows.