An investigation on airflow in disordered nasal cavity and its corrected models by tomographic PIV

Knowledge of airflow characteristics in nasal cavities is essential to understand the physiology and pathology aspects of nasal breathing. Several studies have utilized physical models of the healthy nasal cavity to investigate the relationship between nasal anatomy and airflow. Since the final goal of these works is their contribution to the diagnosis and treatment of nasal diseases, therefore, the next step in this topic must be followed by the studies for disordered nasal cavities. In this paper, airflows in normal and abnormal nasal cavities and surgically created models, which simulate surgical treatment, are investigated experimentally by PIV. High-resolution computerized tomogram data and careful manipulation of the model surface by the ear, nose and throat doctor provide more sophisticated nasal cavity models. The correlation based correction PIV algorithm with window offset is used for PIV flow analysis. Average and RMS distributions in sagittal and coronal sections are obtained for inspiratory and expiratory nasal airflows. Comparisons in nasal airflows for both normal and abnormal cases are also examined. Airflow characteristics that are related to the abnormalities in the nasal cavity are proposed. In the case of simulations of surgical operations, velocity and RMS distributions in coronal section change locally, this may cause some difficulties in physiologic functions of noses and may hurt mucosal surface.