Over 7 months into the year and lots of exciting news from the CFD research team!

Our undergraduate student member Patrick has been accepted to present at The Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (ASOHNS)  Annual Scientific Meeting in September 2021 where he will present his work on using adjoint-gradient optimisation methods for septal deviation pre-surgical planning. This work will provide surgeons with optimised post-surgical geometry based exclusively on the fluid dynamic properties of the system and allow for physical/virtual surgery protocol verification.

The team has been busy finalising their work for journal submission! Congratulations to Sara, Hana, Praween & Kendra!  Sara’s work on the Sedimentation effects on particle position and inertial deposition in 90º circular pipe bends has been accepted for publication by Powder Technology. This study proposed an analytical solution to predict the particle trajectory from different release locations that would help to identify the initial particle distribution at locations upstream to the bend, to obviate the need for long upstream straight pipe sections in the CFD analysis. Kendra & Hana have published their study on the Effects of head tilt on squeeze-bottle nasal irrigation in the Journal of Biomechanics. This study provides a detailed computational fluid dynamic analysis of the interface between air and water during nasal irrigation at a range of head-tilt positions to determine the most effective head position for nasal irrigation procedures. Praween & Hana have published their study on The impact of nasal adhesions on airflow and mucosal cooling in Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the effect of nasal adhesions on the fluid flow and heat and mass transfer through a series of models with attached virtual adhesions.

We welcome guest speakers and future collaborators from the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang (Bangkok, Thailand). Presenting their work covering a large scope of CFD/FEA simulation techniques for addressing manufacturing processes and welcome Worapol Tangsopa to the team! Worapol has published work ranging from ultrasonic cleaning of fluid systems to sand anti-erosion devices and will provide a unique range of skills to the team.

And finally, our Masters’ student member (or should I say PhD candidate) James has completed his masters’ and is one step closer to a career in research! He provided a comprehensive experimental investigation of nasal sprays and airflow within the nasal cavity. An image of the 3D printed nasal cavity used in the experiment is provided below.

3D Printed nasal airway for experimental study – James van Strien 2021

Particle deposition velocity profiles and streamlines about pipe bend – Sara Vahaji 2021

Well done James!
This thesis is for James’ Masters by Research and discusses his experimental investigations of nasal sprays and airflow within the nasal cavity. Not only does it contain interesting findings on these subjects but provides a generous amount of CFD benchmark data! Once approved, his thesis will be publicly available. ETA June 2021 – Watch this space!