AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Fiber Transport and Deposition in Human Upper Tracheobronchial Airways -- the Effect of Brownian Dynamics
Lin Tian, GOODARZ AHMADI, Philip K. Hopke, Yung-Sung Cheng, Clarkson University
Abstract Number: 170 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Transport and deposition of inhaled asbestos fibers has been studied in the past few decades due to its pathological response in living being. Of the earlier study, in vitro and vivo experiments in human and animal subjects were conducted and measurements were made where carcinogenicity of these particles was investigated. In this work, the transport and deposition of elongated ellipsoidal fibers were numerically simulated in a physiological realistic lung bifurcation model. Detailed motion of the inhaled fibers and their interaction with the surrounding environment were reproduced by solving the system of coupled nonlinear equations governing the fibers’ translational and rotational motion. Hydrodynamic drag and torque, shear induced lift, turbulence diffusion, gravitational sedimentation, and Brownian drag and torque were accounted. Correlations of these forces with the fiber transport and deposition pattern, fiber characteristics, human breathing condition, and airway morphology were analyzed. The study uncovered the very important role of Brownian dynamics in thin fibers' motion in human tracheobronchial airways. This can help explain many of the earlier experimental findings. The simulation results were compared with the experimental measurements, and carcinogenicity of the fibers was discussed.