Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-lpg2g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T22:59:59.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Flow development in a model airway bronchus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

B. Snyder and
D. E. Olson
B. Snyder
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada - Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA
D. E. Olson
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67208, USA
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Three-dimensional laminar flow profiles were measured at each of three axial stations downstream from the inlet of a slowly tapering tube of constant flow cross-section. It was found that strong inlet wall shear induces significant secondary swirl, whose downstream growth is initially consistent with an inviscid model of vorticity transfer. This secondary flow may act to retard the onset of local flow separation by convecting axial momentum into the boundary layer adjacent to the diverging wall of the tube. These observations could account for the similar geometric shape of major bronchial airways: the suppression of flow separation in pulmonary bifurcations would promote moire effective airway ventilation in the human lung.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 207 , October 1989, pp. 379 - 392
Copyright
© 1989 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bertram, C. D. & Pedley, T. J. 1983 Steady and unsteady separation in an approximately two-dimensional indented channel. J. Fluid Mech. 130, 315–345.Google Scholar
Gaver, D. P. & Grotberg, J. B. 1986 An experimental investigation of oscillatory flow in a tapered channel. J. Fluid Mech. 172, 47–61.Google Scholar
Horsfield, K., Dart, G., Olson, D. E., Filley, G. F. & Cumming, G. 1971 Models of the human bronchial tree. J. Appl. Physiol. 31, 207–217.Google Scholar
Lighthill, M. J. 1972 Physiological fluid dynamics: a survey. J. Fluid Mech. 52, 475–497.Google Scholar
Olson, D. E., Parker, K. H. & Snyder, B. 1984 A pulsed wire probe for the measurement of velocity and flow direction in slowly moving air. Trans. ASME K: J. Biomech. Engng 106, 72–78.Google Scholar
Orszag, S. A. & Patera, A. T. 1983 Hydrodynamic stability of shear flows. In Les Houches, Session XXXVI, 1981 (ed. G. Iooss, R. H. G. Hellman & R. Stora), pp. 623–662. North-Holland.
Pedley, T. J. 1977 Pulmonary fluid dynamics. Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 9, 229–274.Google Scholar
Snyder, B. & Olson, D. E. 1986 Entrance-flow invariance in a tapering elliptical slit (letter). Phys. Fluids 29, 2341–2343.Google Scholar
Snyder, B., Olson, D. E., Hammersley, J. R., Peterson, C. V. & Jaeger, M. J. 1987 Reversible and irreversible components of central-airway flow resistance. Trans. ASME K: J. Biomech. Engng 109, 154–159.Google Scholar
Sobey, I. J. 1976 Inviscid secondary motions in a tube of slowly varying ellipticity. J. Fluid Mech. 73, 621–639.Google Scholar
Sudlow, M. F., Olson, D. E. & Schroter, R. C. 1970 Fluid mechanics of bronchial air flow. In Proc. 3rd Intl Congr. Inhaled Particles, pp. 19–31. Allen and Unwin.
Wild, R., Pedley, T. J. & Riley, D. S. 1977 Viscous flow in collapsible tubes of slowly varying elliptical cross-section. J. Fluid Mech. 81, 273–294.Google Scholar