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Lungs as a Natural Porous Media: Architecture, Airflow Characteristics and Transport of Suspended Particles

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Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media

Part of the book series: Advanced Structured Materials ((STRUCTMAT,volume 13))

Abstract

Lungs are natural porous structures that are unique, challenging, and high-value media to study. There are multiple drivers to obtain an improved understanding of their architecture and function: to increase high-value information and insights that can be applied in healthcare, to devise control strategies that will limit some hazards effects, and to expand boundaries of what is known that can be applied to produce new (improved) materials. This chapter covers three major topics: shape and structure of lungs, airflow characteristics and the interaction of suspension of particles with the respiratory tract. It is focused on the biological and physical mechanisms involved, in the hope that this will allow an overview of the science related to the respiratory tract.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The idea of available energy dates back to Sadi Carnot (1796–1832) for the specialized case of heat engines. The concept, further developed theoretically by scientists like H. Helmholtz and J. W. Gibbs, has been applied to many kinds of processes, under several different names (available work, information, etc.). Only in second half of last century, a standard definition was formulated and the designation exergy adopted. Exergy is an extensive non-conservative quantity which synthesizes both first and second law of thermodynamics. Exergy is a measure of the ability to do work of a great variety of streams (mass, fluid, heat) that flow through a system [17]. The exergy concept makes possible to compare on a common basis inputs or outputs that are different from the physical point of view, and by accounting for all the exergy streams it makes possible to determine the extent to which the system destroy exergy.

  2. 2.

    Wechsatol et al. [27] studied the effect of junction losses on the optimal geometry of bifurcation. They concluded that in case of laminar flow, the junction losses have sizable effects on the optimal diameter ratio at each node of bifurcation only when the dimensionless parameter called svelteness, defined by the ratio between the external and internal length scales, is lower than the square root of 10.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and CGE, University of Évora, Rua Romão Ramalho 59, 7000-671, Évora, Portugal

    António F. Miguel

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  1. António F. Miguel
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Correspondence to António F. Miguel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade do Porto, Laboratorio de Fisica das, Faculdade de Engenharia, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, Porto, 4200-465, Portugal

    J.M.P.Q. Delgado

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Miguel, A.F. (2012). Lungs as a Natural Porous Media: Architecture, Airflow Characteristics and Transport of Suspended Particles. In: Delgado, J. (eds) Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media. Advanced Structured Materials, vol 13. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21966-5_5

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