Numerical simulation of pulmonary airway reopening by the EOS-based multiphase lattice Boltzmann method

TL;DR

This study develops an EOS-based multiphase lattice Boltzmann model to simulate pulmonary airway reopening, providing insights into aerosol formation and mechanical stresses during exhalation, with potential applications in bioaerosol transmission research.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel EOS-based multiphase lattice Boltzmann model for pulmonary airway dynamics, enhancing prediction accuracy of aerosol formation during airway reopening.

Findings

Aerosol formation occurs even with similar epithelial injury levels.

Pressure drop and liquid plug thickness increase aerosol size and stresses.

Thicker liquid film reduces aerosol size and mechanical stresses.

Abstract

The aerosol formation is associated with the rupture of the liquid plug during the pulmonary airway reopening. The fluid dynamics of this process is difficult to predict because the rupture involved complex liquid-gas transition. Equation of state (EOS) plays a key role in the thermodynamic process of liquid-gas transition. Here, we propose an EOS-based multiphase lattice Boltzmann model, in which the nonideal force is directly evaluated by EOSs. This multiphase model is used to model the pulmonary airway reopening and study aerosol formation during exhalation. The numerical model is first validated with the simulations of Fujioka et al.(2008). and the result is in reasonable agreement with their study. Furthermore, two rupture cases with and without aerosol formation are contrasted and analyzed. It is found that the injury on the epithelium in the case with aerosol formation is essentially the same that of without aerosol formation even while the pressure drop in airway increases by about 67%. Then extensive simulations are performed to investigate the effects of pressure drop, thickness of liquid plug and film on aerosol size and the mechanical stresses. The results show that aerosol size and the mechanical stresses increase as the pressure drop enlarges and thickness of liquid plug become thicken, while aerosol size and the mechanical stresses decrease as thickness of liquid film is thicken. The present multiphase model can be extended to study the generation and transmission of bioaerosols which can carry the bioparticles of influenza or coronavirus.