Systematic evaluation of different approaches for modelling inhaled particle deposition in the lung airways

Abstract

A typical path model is an algebraic model utilized to predict the particle deposition in the lung airway geometry. Prediction of particle deposition is an essential part of the drug discovery and manufacturing process. The accuracy of the typical path algebraic model is to be verified and quantified to establish the model’s use in future applications. There exists a variety of typical path models from various authors for particle deposition, this project starts with the comparison of deposition of particles between individual authors and justifies the differences observed between different authors based on the assumptions from which these models are derived. Subsequently, lung CAD geometry is created based on the Yeh and Schum lung dimensions, to properly capture the topology of the lung bifurcations an engineering decision is made to adjust the branching of parent branch into daughter branches. CFD simulations are performed on the CAD model with the open-source software OpenFOAM. With an inlet flow rate of 60 l/min, the particles are injected into the air, to observe their position of deposition and compare the results of CFD with the typical path model. Deposition efficiency observed for these methods is analyzed and similar and dissimilar general trends are justified. To properly capture the regional deposition the first generation of the lung morphology is divided into different parts, and deposition efficiency in each branch is presented, furthermore observed trends are introduced contrasting the typical path model’s broad assumptions.