Diffusion and convection in a branching tube.
Transport by diffusion and convection is described in a branching tube using a stochastic formulation in a multiple pattern network. The concentration curves are compared with the solutions of the classical one-dimensional transport equation for each branch, coupled with a constraint condition at the branch point. A very good agreement is found for a large domain of variation of the parameters compatible with the lung anatomy. The present analysis gives a sound basis to the multibranch point models of the lung.
D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D011653:Pulmonary Diffusing Capacity; D013269:Stochastic Processes