Examining the Impact of Inlet Shape on Nasal Cavity Flow Field: A Computational Investigation

Abstract

In numerical calculations, entrance lengths and volumes upstream of the control volume are commonly used to steady the flow and obtain more accurate results. This paper discusses the effect of the geometrical shape of the inlet on the results of the flow field. The study presents the results of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of a real model of nasal cavity created from CT images of one patient. Furthermore, the spherical and cubic volume in front of the nostril entrance is modeled. Within the results, the flow fields are observed in planes across the entire sinus from the nostrils up to the nasopharynx. The resulting flow fields from all the three models are compared with each other. The effect of the geometric shape before the entrance to the nostrils is discussed considering the model without the modeled volume. The model created from the CT data of one patient was modified in CAD software to create differently shaped volumes in front of the nostrils. The CFD calculations were performed using Ansys Fluent 2021 R1 software.