AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Nasal Deposition of Aerosols and Sprays in Adults: A Wide Ranging Computational Study
Milad Darunkola, Herbert Wachtel, Michelle L. Noga, Andrew R. Martin, WARREN H. FINLAY, University of Alberta
Abstract Number: 177 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract High resolution Computed Tomography (CT) images of the nasal airways of seven adult subjects were obtained, segmented and meshed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of the flow and particle motion in these subjects’ airways were then performed using OpenFOAM (version 3.0.1) for particle diameters of 5-40 micrometers, spray cone angle of 17.5 and 30 degrees, for two spray release directions (either upward or directed toward the nasal valve), particle injection speeds of 0-20 m/s, flow rates of 0 and 15 L/min, with 200 randomly chosen particle injection locations within each nostril of each subject. This resulted in 224,000 simulations performed over this parameter space. Total deposition in the nose was found to agree with previous in vivo studies. Regional deposition in six regions (vestibule, valve, anterior turbinate, posterior turbinate, olfactory, nasopharynx) was determined for each parameter value. While the data supported expected trends in regional deposition (e.g. deposition in the nasal valve and vestibule increases with particle size and speed), surprisingly high olfactory deposition was found for certain parameter values in some subjects. In particular, injection of particles near the upper wall of the vestibule gave high olfactory deposition (well above 20%), despite an average value of 1.6% olfactory deposition over all parameter values.