Aerosol deposition in the human upper airways

Application Challenge AC7-01 © copyright ERCOFTAC 2019

Evaluation

Comparison of Test Data and CFD

Figure 20 shows the comparison between LES, RANS and in vitro deposition results. The error bars attached to the in vitro results at 60 L/min (ﬁgure 20(d)) correspond to the estimated experimental uncertainties as reported by the authors (Lizal et al., 2015). Overall deposition in the geometry as predicted with LES and RANS is in good agreement with the measured data (see ﬁgure 20(a)). Concerning deposition in the segments of the geometry, numerical and experimental results are shown to be in reasonable agreement at 15 and 60 L/min, whereas deviations are found at 30 L/min. Possible reasons for the observed discrepancies include experimental uncertainties at the inlet related to the velocity proﬁle and the particle distribution. The in vitm inlet conditions might deviate from the velocity proﬁles and uniform particle distribution assumed in the CFD simulations due to the effect of the devices located upstream of the mouth in the experimental apparatus (Lizal et al., 2015).

Figure 20: Comparison of deposition between LES, RANS and in vitro data.

Contributed by: P. Koullapis^a, F. Lizal^b, J. Jedelsky^b, L. Nicolaou^c, K. Bauer^d, O. Sgrott^e, M. Jicha^b, M. Sommerfeld^e, S. C. Kassinos^a —
^aDepartment of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
^bFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic
^cDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
^dInstitute of Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany
^eInstitute Process Engineering, Otto von Guericke University, Halle (Saale), Germany