Author(s)

V.Kulish

Abstract

Fundamentals of alveolar diffusion: impact of microscopic solid particles V. Kulish School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Abstract It is demonstrated that diffusion becomes the dominating factor in lower branches of the respiratory duct of humans. A novel mathematical model, based on transport through porous media, for simulating numerically the spatial and temporal gas diffusion process within the alveolar region of the lung is discussed. The model depends on a representative physical property of the alveolar region termed effective diffisivity, function of the diffusivity, solubility, morphology and interface topography of each alveolar constituent. Unfortunately, the direct determination of the effective diffusivity of the alveolar region is impractical because of the difficulty in describing the internal geometry of each alveolar constituent. However, the transient solution of the macroscopic model can be used in conjunction with the l

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