Numerical investigation of diesel exhaust particle transport and deposition in up to 17 generations of the lung airway

Diesel exhaust particulates matter (DEPM) is a compound mixture of gases and fine particles that contains more than 40 toxic air pollutants including benzene, formaldehyde, and nitrogen oxides. Exposure of DEPM to human lung airway during respiratory inhalation causes severe health hazards like diverse pulmonary diseases. This paper studies the DEPM transport and deposition in upper 17-generation of digital lung airways. The Euler-Lagrange approach is used to solve the continuum and disperse phases of the calculation. Lagrangian based Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is used to investigate the DEPM nanoparticle dispersion and deposition in the current anatomical model. The effects of size specific monodispersed particles on deposition are extensively investigated during resting condition. The numerical results illustrate that Brownian diffusion is the dominant mechanism for smaller diameter particles. The present 17-generation bifurcation model also depicts different deposition hot spot for various diameter particles which could advance the understanding of the therapeutic drug delivery system to the specific position of the respiratory airways.