• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.749-754
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• 2010

Knowledge of the characteristics of airflow in nasal cavities is essential to understand the physiological and pathological aspects of nasal breathing. In our laboratory, a series of experimental investigations on the nasal airflow was conducted; airflow in models of normal and deformed nasal cavities under both constant and periodic flow conditions was studied by PIV. Some of the patients with asymmetric nasal cavities experience pain or discomfort, while other patients with asymmetric nasal cavities do not experience pain. Airflows inside asymmetric nasal cavities with and without obstructions due to a bent nasal septum are investigated both experimentally by PIV and numerically by using the general-purpose FVM code in order to determine the reason for the above-mentioned discrepancy. The comparisons between two cases are tried. Heat and humidity distribution are investigated numerically.