Curvature-induced motion of a thin Bingham layer in airways bifurcations

Cyril Karamaoun (1, 2, 3) , Haribalan Kumar (4) , Médéric Argentina (1, 5, 3) , Didier Clamond (2, 1, 3) , Benjamin Mauroy (2, 3, 6, 1)

1 UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur
2 LJAD - Laboratoire Jean Alexandre Dieudonné
3 VADER Center
4 Auckland Bioengineering Institute
5 INPHYNI - Institut de Physique de Nice
6 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

On the bronchi walls, the bronchial mucus forms a thin layer that protects the lung by capturing inhaled pollutants. Due to the curvature of its interface with air, the layer is submitted to curvature effects that interact with its rheology. Based on lubrication theory and 3D simulations, we show that these effects might move overthick mucus layers in the airway bifurcations. This movement could disrupt the mucociliary clearance and break the layer thickness homogeneity.

Domaines: Biophysique [physics.bio-ph]

Cyril Karamaoun, Haribalan Kumar, Médéric Argentina, Didier Clamond, Benjamin Mauroy. Curvature-induced motion of a thin Bingham layer in airways bifurcations. 2023. ⟨hal-03500343v2⟩