Numerical Simulation of Turbulent Airflow and Particle Deposition in Human Upper Oral Airways

The objectives of this work were twofold. Firstly, a second-order closure turbulence model (LRR model) was used for capturing the anisotropic turbulence intensities within the human upper oral airways. Secondly, dispersion and deposition of particles were analyzed by a Lagrangian particle tracking approach. The computational model was validated with experimental data in terms of particle deposition fractions. The results showed that the airflow in oral airways were three dimensional and included separated flow regions, and contains strongly anisotropic turbulence fluctuation fields. Taking into account the turbulence anisotropy provided important information for particle dispersion analysis; in particular, particle deposition in the human oral airways was noticeably affected by the presence of anisotropic turbulence fluctuation fields.