Instantaneous deposition rate of aerosols in the lung

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The coordination of aerosol drug delivery with the breathing pattern of individual patients is one of the greatest challenges in developing the next generation of smart aerosol delivery devices. Accurate numerical simulation of aerosol deposition is essential for the optimal design and development of these new devices. The presently existing deposition models cannot capture the effect of transient breathing pattern and cannot predict the time dependent local deposition rates. The goal of this project is to develop novel deposition functions for the instantaneous, transient deposition rate of aerosol particles.The research will start with the development of new analytical deposition functions on highly simplified geometries to obtain functional forms that can be used in realistic flows. To adapt the analytical functions to realistic geometries, such as the mouth-throat and lung bifurcations, a novel experimental system will be developed. The working principle of this validation experiment is based on measuring electrical charge accumulation at surfaces to obtain the deposition rate of particles previously charged with a known unit charge. This setup will be the first of its kind to enable real-time measurement of local deposition rate of aerosol particles with high accuracy. An important feature of this experimental setup will be its ability to measure instantaneous local deposition rate at multiple locations simultaneously.The outcome of this research will greatly advance our ability to understand and to predict transient deposition rates of aerosols in different regions of lungs. This will help development of the next generation of smart nebulizers, which will offer a more efficient and better controlled, targeted delivery of drugs in human airways.