›› 2009, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (7): 845-.

• Original article (Clinical research) • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Relationship between computational fluid dynamics simulation and acoustic rhinometry and rhinomanometry in nasal cavity

GUO Yu-feng1, ZHANG Yu-ning2, LIU Shu-hong3, LU Xiao-feng4, ZHU Min4, CHEN Xue-ming1, CHEN Guang4   

  1. 1. Department of Otolaryngology, Ruijin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200025, China；2. School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK；3. Department of Thermal Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China；4. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery,The Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai 200011, China
  • Online:2009-07-25 Published:2009-09-16

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Abstract:

Objective  To reconstruct a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of human nasal cavity, and make comparison analysis with acoustic rhinometry and rhinomanometry. Methods  One healthy volunteer was performed CT scanning of nasal cavity, three dimensional CFD model was established by Simplant 10.0 and Gambit 2.3.16, and Fluent 6.3.2 was employed to simulate the airflow of nasal cavity. Acoustic rhinometer was used to assess the area of nasal cavity, rhinomanometry was adopted to measure the airflow and intranasal pressure drop during inspiration, and the results were compared with those obtained from CFD model. Results  Cross section area of nasal cavity obtained from CFD model matches well with that measured by acoustic rhinometer within 30 mm distance from nostril, while the latter was larger than the former beyond 50 mm distance from nostril. The trend of intranasal pressure drop at different airflows measured by CFD model was the same as that measured by rhinomanometry, while the transnasal pressure obtained by CFD model was lower than that recorded by rhinomanometry. Conclusion CFD model can accurately simulate the shape of nasal cavity and measure the parameters of intranasal airflow, which helps to understand the airflow characteristics of nasal cavity.

Key words: computational fluid dynamics, three-dimensional reconstruction, nasal cavity, acoustic rhinometry, rhinomanometry