Geometry and airflow dynamics analysis in the nasal cavity during inhalation

Abstract

Background: A major issue among computational respiratory studies is the wide variety of nasal morphologies being studied, caused by both inter-population and inter-subject variations.

Method: Six nasal cavity geometries exhibiting diverse geometry variations were subjected to steady inhalation flow rate of 15L/min. to determine if any consistent flow behaviour could be found.

Findings: Despite vastly different geometries we were able to identify consistent flow patterns including relatively high velocity in the nasal valve region, followed by flow continuing predominantly in the inferior half of the airway. We also found conformity among models where the inhaled air reached a near-conditioned state by the middle of the nasal cavity. Air from the front of the face reached the olfactory regions while air from the lateral sides of the face moved through the inferior half of the nasal cavity.

Interpretation: The ability to predict gross flow features provides a baseline flow field to compare against. This contributes towards establishing well defined flow predictions and be used as a comparison for future larger studies.

Keywords: Air conditioning; CFD; Heat flux; Inhalation; Nasal cavity; wss.