Simulating Mucociliary Transport Using the Method of Regularized Stokeslets
Abstract
Mucociliary clearance is a process whereby cilia lining the airways propel mucus and
entrapped particles away from the lungs. Understanding this process is critical to
treating ciliary defects, as well as to developing effective inhaled drug treatments.
In this paper, we formulate a fluid model to simulate mucociliary transport of a single
particle. The method of regularized Stokeslets, in combination with the method of
images, is used to compute the velocity field in the mucus layer due to ciliary beating.
The advective and diffusive motion of the particle is then modeled using the forward
Euler method. Finally, our simulation is used to gain insight into the effect on
mucociliary transport of various biological parameters, including ciliary spacing,
ciliary phase differences, particle diffusivity, and particle starting location.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
MathematicsPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6912Citation
Karpman, Kara (2013). Simulating Mucociliary Transport Using the Method of Regularized Stokeslets. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6912.Collections
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