Long-time draining of thin liquid films in buckled lung airways

Abstract

The peripheral airways of the lung are deformable and are lined with a thin layer of liquid. Here we examine how surface tension and bending stresses together determine the equilibrium configurations of an airway, which we model as an axially uniform, liquid-lined elastic tube. Conditions are identified under which capillary forces can induce collapse and flooding of the airway. We then describe the large-time asymptotics of unsteady liquid-lining flows within deformed airways and on other surfaces of prescribed nonuniform curvature. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.