An image-based computational model of oscillatory flow in the proximal part of the tracheobronchial trees

A computational model of an oscillatory laminar flow of an incompressible Newtonian fluid has been carried out in the proximal part of huaman tracheobronchial trees, either normal or with a strongly stenosed right main bronchus. After acquisition with a multislice spiral CT, the thoracic images are processed to reconstruct the geometry of the trachea and the six first brinchus generations and to virtually travel inside this duct network. The facetisation associated with the three-dimensional reconsturction of the tracheobronchial tree is improved to get a computation-adapted surface triangulation, which leads to a volumic mesh composed of tetrahedra. The Navier-Stokes equations associated with the classical boundary conditions and different values of the flow dimensionless parameters are solved using the finite element method. The airways are supposed to be rigid during rest breathing. The flow distribution among the set of bronchi is determined during the respiratory cycle. Cycle reproducibility and mesh size effects on the numerical results are examined. Helpful qualitative data are provided rather than accurate quantitative results in the context of multimodelling, from inmage processing to numerical simulations

Patient-specific simulation of tidal breathing

International audiencePatient-specific simulation of air flows in lungs is now straightforward using segmented airways trees from CT scans as the basis for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. These models generally use static geometries, which do not account for the motion of the lungs and its influence on important clinical indicators, such as airway resistance. This paper is concerned with the simulation of tidal breathing, including the dynamic motion of the lungs, and the required analysis workflow. Geometries are based on CT scans obtained at the extremes of the breathing cycle, Total Lung Capacity (TLC) and Functional Residual Capacity (FRC). It describes how topologically consistent geometries are obtained at TLC and FRC, using a ‘skeleton’ of the network of airway branches. From this a 3D computational mesh which morphs between TLC and FRC is generated. CFD results for a number of patient-specific cases, healthy and asthmatic, are presented. Finally their potential use in evaluation of the progress of the disease is discussed, focusing on an important clinical indicator, the airway resistance