An anatomically correct finite element mesh of the right human nasal cavity was constructed from CAT scans of a healthy adult nose. The steady-state Navier-Stokes and continuity equations were solved numerically to determine the laminar airflow patterns in the nasal cavity at quiet breathing flow rates. In the main nasal passages, the highest inspiratory air speed occurred along the nasal floor (below the inferior turbinate), and a second lower peak occurred in the middle of the airway (between the inferior and middle turbinates and the septum). Nearly 30 percent of the inspired volumetric flow passed below the inferior turbinate and about 10 percent passed through the olfactory airway. Secondary flows were induced by curvature and rapid changes in cross-sectional area of the airways, but the secondary velocities were small in comparison with the axial velocity through most of the main nasal passages. The flow patterns changed very little as total half-nasal flow rate varied between resting breathing rates of 125 m/s and 200 ml/s. During expiration, the peaks in velocity were smaller than inspiration, and the flow was more uniform in the turbinate region. Inspiratory streamline patterns in the model were determined by introducing neutrally buoyant point particles at various locations on the external naris plane, and tracking their path based on the computed flow field. Only the stream from the ventral tip of the naris reached the olfactory airway. The numerically computed velocity field was compared with the experimentally measured velocity field in a large scale (20x) physical model, which was built by scaling up from the same CAT scans. The numerical results showed good agreement with the experimental measurements at different locations in the airways, and confirmed that at resting breathing flow rates, airflow through the nasal cavity is laminar.

An anatomically accurate, x20 enlarged scale model of a healthy right human adult nasal cavity was constructed from computerized axial tomography scans for the study of nasal airflow patterns. Detailed velocity profiles for inspiratory and expiratory flow through the model and turbulence intensity were measured with a hot-film anemometer probe with 1 mm spatial resolution. Steady flow rates equivalent to 1,100, 560, and 180 ml/s through one side of the real human nose were studied. Airflows were determined to be moderately turbulent, but changes in the velocity profiles between the highest and lowest flow rates suggest that for normal breathing laminar flow may be present in much of the nasal cavity. The velocity measurements closest to the model wall were estimated to be inside the laminar sublayer, such that the slopes of the velocity profiles are reasonably good estimates of the velocity gradients at the walls. The overall longitudinal pressure drop inside the nasal cavity for the three inspiratory flow rates was estimated from the average total shear stress measured at the central nasal wall and showed good agreement with literature values measured in human subjects.

Human sniffing behavior usually involves bouts of short, high flow rate inhalation (>300 ml/s through each nostril) with mostly turbulent airflow. This has often been characterized as a factor enabling higher amounts of odorant to deposit onto olfactory mucosa than for laminar airflow and thereby aid in olfactory detection. Using computational fluid dynamics human nasal cavity models, however, we found essentially no difference in predicted olfactory odorant flux (g/cm2 s) for turbulent versus laminar flow for total nasal flow rates between 300 and 1000 ml/s and for odorants of quite different mucosal solubility. This lack of difference was shown to be due to the much higher resistance to lateral odorant mass transport in the mucosal nasal airway wall than in the air phase. The simulation also revealed that the increase in airflow rate during sniffing can increase odorant uptake flux to the nasal/olfactory mucosa but lower the cumulative total uptake in the olfactory region when the inspired air/odorant volume was held fixed, which is consistent with the observation that sniff duration may be more important than sniff strength for optimizing olfactory detection. In contrast, in rats, sniffing involves high-frequency bouts of both inhalation and exhalation with laminar airflow. In rat nose odorant uptake simulations, it was observed that odorant deposition was highly dependent on solubility and correlated with the locations of different types of receptors.

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A steady-state, one-dimensional theoretical model of human respiratory heat and water vapor transport is developed. Local mass transfer coefficients measured in a cast replica of the upper respiratory tract are incorporated into the model along with heat transfer coefficients determined from the Chilton-Colburn analogy and from data in the literature. The model agrees well with reported experimental measurements and predicts that the two most important parameters of the human air-conditioning process are: the blood temperature distribution along the airway walls, and the total cross-sectional area and perimeter of the nasal cavity. The model also shows that the larynx and pharynx can actually gain water over a respiratory cycle and are the regions of the respiratory tract most subject to drying. With slight modification, the model can be used to investigate respiratory heat and water vapor transport in high stress environments, pollutant gas uptake in the respiratory tract, and the connection between respiratory air-conditioning and the function of the mucociliary escalator.