EFFECT OF POROUS MEDIUM TO FLUID FLOW IN MUCUS LAYER

Abstract

Mucociliary clearance (MCC) is a protective process in human respiratory system to expel inhaled strange particles such as dust, dirt, and smoke out of the human body. The particles are caught by mucus residing in the respiratory tract and then mucus forms a mucus layer (ML) lining above the cilia settling on the ciliated epithelial cells. The mucus is removed from the human body by ciliary beating. Here, we study the fluid flow above the tips of cilia up to the mucus layer affected by the movement of cilia. In this work, the two-dimensional Stokes equation is applied to find the velocities of the fluid in the free-fluid region. The numerical solutions are approximated by using a mixed finite element method. This problem can be usefully applied to problems in which fluids are affected by the self-movement of a solid phase.