Title: Particle dispersion in morphologically-inspired computational models of alveolar capillary networks

Authors: Hagit Stauber; Rami Fishler; Philipp Hofemeier; Dan Waisman; Josué Sznitman

Addresses: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion IIT Haifa, Israel ' Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion IIT Haifa, Israel ' Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion IIT Haifa, Israel ' Department of Neonatology Carmel Medical Center, Haifa, Israel; Faculty of Medicine, Technion IIT Haifa, Israel ' Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion IIT Haifa, Israel

Abstract: With growing evidence of the ability of inhaled nanoparticles (NP) to translocate from the lungs into the pulmonary circulation, increased concerns regarding the fate of such particles reaching body organs have risen. Until present, there is still a limited understanding on the transport dynamics of NPs following translocation into the pulmonary microcirculation. To gain initial insight into such processes, simulations of the transport and dispersion of various particle sizes are conducted in anatomically-inspired alveolar capillary networks (ACN). Our models, based on the seminal 'sheet flow' model, investigate quantitatively the influence of network porosity on particle dynamics. For fixed flow conditions, we find that the effective dispersion coefficient is sensibly enhanced with decreasing porosity levels and decreasing particle sizes. Furthermore, particle size significantly influences the characteristics of particle spreading and tortuosity. Overall, our findings represent a tangible first step in further understanding inhaled NP transport in networks representative of the alveolar capillaries.

Keywords: pulmonary circulation; alveolar capillaries; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; nanoparticle transport; porous media; particle dispersion; computational modelling; capillary networks; nanoparticles; nanotechnology; lungs; pulmonary circulation; transport dynamics; simulation; network porosity; particle dynamics; particle size.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECB.2015.074733

International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics, 2015 Vol.3 No.4, pp.300 - 318

Received: 21 Mar 2015
Accepted: 21 Aug 2015

Published online: 16 Feb 2016 *

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