Summary
Aerosolized drug delivery in human airways is used for the treatment of several pulmonary ailments such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary infection, etc. A targeted regional deposition of the drug is key to effective treatment with reduced side-effects. Although recent advancements in radiological imaging have enabled detailed anatomical information to guide the treatment procedure, such information still tends to be limited in spatio-temporal resolution leading to an inefficient treatment. To this end, computational tools can provide further insight to guide and enhance the efficiency of the treatment procedure. However, numerical investigation of such biological systems is challenging due to the presence of a wide range of flow features (separation, re-circulation, transition, etc.), geometric complexity, and aerosol dynamics. This research project focuses on establishing and utilizing a computational framework for the investigation of airflow dynamics and aerosol deposition in such systems.
Support
- BRIC, UTC (2020)
- NSF (2023 – Present)
Test Cases
- SimInhale Benchmark Case
Computational Approaches
The high-fidelity computational framework employs the well-established Eulerian-Lagrangian strategy where an Eulerian approach is used to simulate the airflow and a Lagrangian approach is used to obtain the aerosol dynamics. The computational methodology extends the pimpleFoam solver with particle tracking capabilities. In addition, the solver has been extended to include subgrid models for both the carrier and dispersed phases.
Publications
- J. Pratt and R. Ranjan, “Study of Dynamics of Airflow and Aerosol Transport and Deposition in Human Upper Airways Using Large-Eddy Simulations”, Accepted, Journal of Aerosol Science & Technology, 2026.
- J. Pratt and R. Ranjan, “Computational Study of Regional and Global Aerosol Deposition in Human Airways during Realistic Breathing Cycles“, In Division of Fluid Dynamics Annual Meeting, 2025.
- J. Pratt, R. Ranjan, and J. Wang “Effects of Injection Size Distribution on the Aerosol Deposition within Human Airways“, In APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting Abstracts, pp. T05-003. 2024.
- D. Mahida, E. Durant, P. Kumar, and R. Ranjan, “Study of airflow and aerosol deposition characteristics within human airways using large-eddy simulations“, In APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting Abstracts, pp. H01-007. 2020.