Identifying the deposition pattern of inhaled pharmaceutical aerosols in the human respiratory system and understanding the effective parameters in this process is vital for more efficient drug delivery to this region. This study investigated aerosol deposition in a patient-specific upper respiratory airway and determined the deposition fraction (DF) and pressure drop across the airway. An experimental setup was developed to measure the pressure drop in the same realistic geometry printed from the patient-specific geometry. The unsteady simulations were performed with a flow rate of 15L/min and different particle diameters ranging from 2 to 30µm. The results revealed significant flow circulation after the nasal valve in the upper and oropharynx regions, and a maximum local velocity observed in the nasopharynx. Transient cumulative deposition fraction showed that after 2s of the simulation, all particles deposit or escape the computational domain. About 30% of the injected large particles (d(p) ≥ 20µm) deposited in the first 1cm away from the nostril and more than 95% deposited in the nasal airway before entering the oropharynx region. While almost 94% deposition in trachea was composed of particles smaller than 5µm. Approximately 20% of inhaled fine particles (2 to 5µm) deposited in the upper airway and the rest deposited in oropharynx, larynx and trachea.
- Biglarian, M.
- MomeniLarimi, M.
- Firoozabadi, B.
- Inthavong, K.
- Farnoud, A.
Keywords
- Computational model
- Drug delivery
- Eulerian lagrangian model
- Pharmaceutical microparticles
- Upper airway
