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Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics Methods to Understand Nasal Cavity Flows

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All Around the Nose

Abstract

Computational fluid dynamics methods enable to numerically predict complex flows with the help of computers. In the fields of Engineering and Physics they are already in use for decades to support design decissions and to get insight into complex physical phenomena. The simulation techniques have massively evolved over the past years and can nowadays be applied in medical context to analyze bio-fluidmechanical processes. Thanks to the continuous increase of computational power and parallelism as well as algorithmic advancements, accurate predictions of the flow in the nasal cavity are possible today. This chapter introduces the reader to the concepts of the computational fluid dynamics of the nose. It delivers some fundamentals on pre-processing medical image data, various techniques to generate computational meshes and gives an overview of methods to solve the governing equations of fluid motion. Thereby, advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches are explained. Subsequently, a variety of methods to analyze the flow and particle dynamics in the nasal cavity, ranging from streamline visualizations, pressure loss and temperature increase considerations, wall-shear stress and heat-flux distributions, to the analysis of the particle deposition behavior and transitional flow, is presented. The chapter concludes with how such methods can be used in clinical applications and elaborates how future developments might support decision making in medical pathways.

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Change history

  • 15 May 2020

    Chapter 9 was inadvertently published with the following error: On page 77, Figures 9.1a and 9.1b were missed out, which have been included in this erratum.

Notes

  1. 1.

    3D Slicer https://www.slicer.org

  2. 2.

    MITK http://mitk.org

  3. 3.

    OsiriX http://osirix-viewer.com

  4. 4.

    Materialise http://biomedical.materialise.com

  5. 5.

    ANSYS ICEM CFD http://resource.ansys.com/Products/Other+Products/ANSYS+ICEM+CFD

  6. 6.

    ANSYS Meshing http://www.ansys.com/Products/Platform/ANSYS-Meshing

  7. 7.

    PointwiseGridgen http://www.pointwise.com/pw

  8. 8.

    SALOME http://www.salome-platform.org

  9. 9.

    OpenFOAM http://www.openfoam.com

  10. 10.

    snappyHexMesh https://github.com/nogenmyr/swiftSnap

  11. 11.

    NETGEN http://www.hpfem.jku.at/netgen/

  12. 12.

    ANSYS Fluent http://www.ansys.com/Products/Fluids/ANSYS-Fluent

  13. 13.

    ANSYS CFX http://www.ansys.com/Products/Fluids/ANSYS-CFX

  14. 14.

    CD-adapco STAR-CD http://www.cd-adapco.com/products/star-cd

  15. 15.

    CD-adapco STAR-CCM+ http://www.cd-adapco.com/products/star-ccm

  16. 16.

    EXA PowerFLOW http://exa.com/product/simulation-tools/powerflow-cfd-simulation

  17. 17.

    OpenLB http://optilb.org/openlb

  18. 18.

    Code Saturne http://code-saturne.org

  19. 19.

    ZFS http://www.aia.rwth-aachen.de

  20. 20.

    Alya http://www.bsc.es/es/computer-applications/alya-system

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Aerodynamics and Chair of Fluid Mechanics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Andreas Lintermann Dr.-Ing.

  2. Simulation Laboratory Highly Scalable Fluids and Solids Engineering, Jülich Aachen Research Alliance Center for Simulation and Data Science (JARA-CSD), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Andreas Lintermann Dr.-Ing.

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  1. Andreas Lintermann Dr.-Ing.
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Correspondence to Andreas Lintermann Dr.-Ing. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Medical Faculty, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Cemal Cingi

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical Faculty, Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, Turkey

    Nuray Bayar Muluk

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Lintermann, A. (2020). Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics Methods to Understand Nasal Cavity Flows. In: Cingi, C., Bayar Muluk, N. (eds) All Around the Nose. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21217-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21217-9_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-21217-9

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