Three-dimensional numerical simulation of gas-particulate flow around breathing human and particulate inhalation

It is important to predict the environment around the breathing human because inhalation of virus (avian influenza, SARS) is recently severe worldwide problem, and air pollution caused by diesel emission particle (DEP) and asbestos attract a great deal of attention. In the present study, three-dimensional numerical simulation was carried out to predict unsteady flows around a breathing human and how suspended particulate matter (SPM, diameter similar to 1 mu m) reaches the human nose in inhalation and exhalation. In the calculation, we find out smaller breathing angle and the closer distance between the human nose and pollutant region are effective in the inhalation of SPM.