Study of airflow in the trachea of idealized model of human tracheobronchial airways during breathing cycle

Abstract

The article deals with a numerical simulation and its verification by experiments in the trachea of idealized geometry of tracheobronchial airways by using unsteady RANS method. The breathing cycle was simulated by sinusoidal function with period of 4 seconds and tidal volume of 0.5 litres of air, which corresponds to breathing during resting condition. Results were compared with experiments measured by laser-Doppler velocimeter in eight points of four cross sections in the trachea. Model consists of the mouth cavity, larynx and tracheobronchial tree down to fourth generation of branching.