A semi-analytical model describing the motion of fibrous particles ranging from nano-to micro scale was developed, and some important differences in respiratory tract transport and deposition between fibrous particles of various sizes and shapes were elucidated. The aim of this work was to gain information regarding health risks associated with inhalation exposure to small fibers such as carbon nanotubes. The model, however, is general in the sense that it can be applied to arbitrary flows and geometries at small fiber Stokes and Reynolds numbers. Deposition due to gravitational settling, Brownian motion and interception was considered, and results were presented for steady, laminar, fully developed parabolic flow in straight airways. Regarding particle size, our model shows that decrease in particle size leads to reduced efficiency of sedimentation but increased intensity of Brownian diffusion, as expected. We studied the effects due to particle shape alone by varying the aspect ratios and diameters of the microfibers simultaneously, such that the effect of particle mass does not come into play. Our model suggests that deposition both due to gravitational settling and Brownian diffusion decreases with increased fiber aspect ratio. Regarding the combined effect of fiber size and shape, our results suggest that for particles with elongated shape the probability of reaching the vulnerable gas-exchange region in the deep lung is highest for particles with diameters in the size range 10-100 nm and lengths of several micrometers. Note that the popular multi-walled carbon nanotubes fall into this size-range.

Interest is growing in the development of hierarchical composites, in which nanoscale particles are used alongside the traditional microscale reinforcing fibres. To produce high quality multiscale materials, knowledge of mechanisms governing nanofibre distribution and orientation is crucial. In this work, analysis and numerical simulations are used to model the motion of dispersed carbon nanotubes during impregnation of dual scale fabrics in composites manufacturing. Results suggest that nanofibre displacement and orientation is mainly deterministic on mesoscale, while typically random on microscale. The randomising Brownian torque may still influence the motion and trigger the fibre to make 180u rotations in the former, however, when acting together with the fluid shear. Fibre deposition may lead to a total blockage of the flow within the microchannels, whereas only minor deposition is expected in the mesochannels.

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In this paper, we increase the understanding of the influence of the breathing pattern on the fate of inhaled non-spherical micro and nanoparticles and examine the accuracy of replacing the cyclic flow field with a quasi-steady flow. This is done with new analysis and numerical simulations on straight model airways using a previously developed discrete model for fiber motion. For the conditions studied, maximum deposition is obtained when fibers are released at the start of the inspiratory cycle, and minimum is received at the peak of inhalation. A quasi-steady solution generally provides a relatively good approximation to cyclic flow if an average velocity over one residence time of the particles moving with the mean fluid velocity is used. For a batch type, supply of particles deposition is favored in light activity breathing as compared to heavy breathing and the inclusion of a short pause after the inhalation results in an increased deposition in the terminal bronchiole. During zero-flow over the time of a breathing pause, spherical 10 nm particles experience considerable deposition in the distal airways, whereas only a few percent of larger and/ or fibrous nanoparticles were deposited. Hence, size and shape are crucial variables for deposition for no flow conditions. Common for all breathing parameters examined was that minimum deposition was obtained for the spherical 1 μm-particles and the fibrous 100 nm-particles. The former is expected from studies on spherical particles, and the latter is in agreement with results from a recent publication on steady inspiration.

A model for the motion and deposition of oblate and prolate spheroids in the nano-and microscale was developed. The aim was to mimic the environment of the human lung, but the model is general and can be applied for different flows and geometries for small nonspherical particle Stokes and Reynolds numbers. A study of the motion and orientation of a single oblate and prolate particle has been done yielding that Brownian motion disturbs the Jeffery orbits for small particles. Prolate microparticles still display distinguishable orbits while oblate particles of the same size do not. A statistical study was done comparing the deposition efficiencies of oblate and prolate spheroids of different size and aspect ratio observing that smaller particles have higher deposition rate for lower aspect ratio while larger particles have higher deposition rates for large aspect ratio.