Publication detail

Simulation of size-dependent aerosol deposition in a realistic model of the upper human airways

FREDERIX, E. KUCZAJ, A. NORDLUND, M. BĚLKA, M. LÍZAL, F. JEDELSKÝ, J. ELCNER, J. JÍCHA, M. GEURTS, B.

Original Title

Simulation of size-dependent aerosol deposition in a realistic model of the upper human airways

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

An Eulerian internally mixed aerosol model is used for predictions of deposition inside a realistic cast of the human upper airways. The model, formulated in the multi-species and compressible framework, is solved using the sectional discretization of the droplet size distribution function to accurately capture size-dependent aerosol dynamics such as droplet drift, gravitational settling and diffusion. These three mechanisms are implemented in a consistent way in the model, guaranteeing that the total droplet mass as given by the droplet size distribution is always equal to the total droplet mass due to the mass concentration fields. To validate the model, we simulate monodisperse glycerol aerosol deposition inside the lung cast, for which experimental data is available. Provided that an adequate computational mesh is used and an adequate boundary treatment for the inertial deposition velocity, excellent agreement is found with the experimental data. Finally, we study the size-dependent deposition inside the lung cast for a polydisperse aerosol with droplet sizes ranging from the nanometer scale to beyond the micrometer scale. The typical ‘V-shape’ deposition curve is recovered. The aim of this paper is to 1) provide an overview of the Eulerian aerosol dynamics model and method, to 2) validate this method in a relevant complex lung geometry and to 3) explore the capabilities of the method by simulating polydisperse aerosol deposition.

Keywords

aerosol deposition, respiratory airways

Authors

FREDERIX, E.; KUCZAJ, A.; NORDLUND, M.; BĚLKA, M.; LÍZAL, F.; JEDELSKÝ, J.; ELCNER, J.; JÍCHA, M.; GEURTS, B.

Released

1. 3. 2018

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Location

ENGLAND

ISBN

0021-8502

Periodical

JOURNAL OF AEROSOL SCIENCE

Year of study

115

Number

1

State

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Pages from

29

Pages to

45

Pages count

17

URL

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021850216302968?via%3Dihub

BibTex

@article{BUT140968,
  author="E.M.A. {frederix} and Arkadiusz {Kuczaj} and Markus {Nordlund} and Miloslav {Bělka} and František {Lízal} and Jan {Jedelský} and Jakub {Elcner} and Miroslav {Jícha} and B.J. {Geurts}",
  title="Simulation of size-dependent aerosol deposition in a realistic model
of the upper human airways",
  journal="JOURNAL OF AEROSOL SCIENCE",
  year="2018",
  volume="115",
  number="1",
  pages="29--45",
  doi="10.1016/j.jaerosci.2017.10.007",
  issn="0021-8502",
  url="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021850216302968?via%3Dihub"
}