First- and second-hand smoke dispersion analysis from e-cigarettes using a computer-simulated person with a respiratory tract model

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate, in the human respiratory tract, the flow patterns and adsorption flux (deposition flux) distributions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated by the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) through the application of a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Two types of human respiratory tract models, which give detailed respiratory tract geometries were reproduced in this study using computed tomography data, for the CFD analysis of inhalation exposure. Complicated flow patterns, nonuniform distributions of VOC concentrations, and heterogeneous adsorption flux distributions were determined within the human respiratory tract models, and individual specificity was confirmed. The CFD simulation results of adsorption flux distributions on the epithelium tissue surfaces of airways denoted the probability distributions of inhalation exposure in respiratory tracts, and high adsorption flux sites representing ‘hot spots’ were delineated for tissue doses of VOCs generated from smoking e-cigarettes. Furthermore, dispersion and diffusion of VOCs in an indoor environment due to exhalation of the vapour phase of e-cigarette emissions were analysed by using a computer-simulated person with a numerical respiratory tract model through an integrated and contiguous analysis of inhalation and exhalation modes during e-cigarette smoking.

A numerical investigation of the potential effects of e‐cigarette smoking on local tissue dosimetry and the deterioration of indoor air quality

“…The model has 38 outlet openings for the bronchiole and excluded the nasal cavity region to reduce computational cost. We had confirmed that flow patterns in the respiratory tract did not depend on the existence of the nasal cavity region prior to inhalation exposure analysis using the respiratory tract excluding nasal cavity region 39,55 . The airway model had already been developed based on computer tomography (CT) data extracted from a healthy human male.…”

Comparative numerical simulation of inhaled particle dispersion in upper human airway to analyse intersubject differences

“…33 The LRN-AKN model has been widely applied in various types of flow analyses in enclosed spaces and is known for its reasonable prediction accuracy. [33][34][35][36] In order to simulate the inspiratory airflow and particle transport in inter-subject models, a prior estimation of the airflow rates in human is necessary. The inhalation flow rates were considered as a function of metabolic rate, e.g.…”

Study on Influencing Factors and Control Strategies of Surgical Smoke Concentration Distribution

“…For example, the concentration of surgical smoke particles from a short-term, high-frequency electrosurgical knife can reach 60,000 -100,000 m -3 in 5 min. Laser scalpels produce approximately twice the concentration of particulate matter in smoke (Imani et al, 2018;Kuga et al, 2018). There are significant differences between superficial and abdominal surgeries, which produce PM2.5 concentrations of 245.7 and 149.4 μg m -3 after 3 -6 s of electrosurgical opening, respectively (Chen et al, 2018;Golda et al, 2019).…”

“…Laser scalpels produce approximately twice the concentration of particulate matter in smoke (Imani et al, 2018;Kuga et al, 2018). There are significant differences between superficial and abdominal surgeries, which produce PM2.5 concentrations of 245.7 and 149.4 μg m -3 after 3 -6 s of electrosurgical opening, respectively (Chen et al, 2018;Golda et al, 2019). However, previous research has not focused on the monitoring and hazard analysis of the particle…”