Effects of varying inhalation duration and respiratory rate on human airway flow

TL;DR

This study uses 3D simulations to explore how inhalation duration and respiratory rate influence airflow patterns in the human airway, revealing complex flow behaviors and proposing a modified dimensionless stroke length for oscillatory flow analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of IT and RR effects on airway flow using simulations and proposes a new dimensionless parameter for better flow characterization.

Findings

Axial flow is non-uniform at low Womersley numbers.

Lateral dispersion exceeds axial flow in bifurcations.

Varying IT/BT has minimal impact on flow characteristics.

Abstract

Studies of flow through the human airway have shown that inhalation time (IT) and secondary flow structures can play important roles in particle deposition. However, the effects of varying IT in conjunction with respiratory rate (RR) on airway flow remain unknown. Using 3D numerical simulations of oscillatory flow through an idealized airway model consisting of a mouth inlet, glottis, trachea and symmetric double bifurcation at trachea Reynolds number ($Re$) of 4,200, we investigated how varying the ratio of IT to breathing time (BT) from 25% to 50% and RR from 10 breaths per minute (bpm) corresponding to Womersley number ($Wo$) of 2.37 to 1,000 bpm ($Wo$=23.7) impacts airway flow characteristics. Irrespective of IT/BT, axial flow during inhalation at tracheal cross-sections was non-uniform for $Wo$=2.37 as compared to centrally concentrated distribution for $Wo$=23.7. For a given $Wo$ and IT/BT, both axial and secondary (lateral) flow components unevenly split between left and right branches of a bifurcation. Irrespective of $Wo$, IT/BT and airway generation, lateral dispersion was stronger than axial flow streaming. Despite left-right symmetry of the lower airway in our model, the right-sided mouth-to-glottis portion generated turbulence in the upper airway. Varying IT/BT for a given $Wo$ did not noticeably change flow characteristics. Discrepancy in the oscillatory flow relation $Re$/$Wo^2$=2$L$/$D$ ($L$=stroke length; $D$=trachea diameter) was observed for IT/BT$\neq$50%, as $L$ changed with IT/BT. We developed a modified dimensionless stroke length term including IT/BT. While viscous forces and convective acceleration were dominant for lower $Wo$, unsteady acceleration was dominant for higher $Wo$.