Asbestos Fiber Deposition in a Human Tracheobronchial Cast. Ii. Empirical Model

Abstract

Experimental data on asbestos fiber deposition in hollow replicate casts of a human tracheobronchial tree were used to derive a generic empirical model for the deposition of fibrous aerosols in lung airways. The mechanisms primarily responsible for deposition under the experimental conditions used were inertial impaction and interception. The initial empirical model developed on the basis of these two deposition mechanisms and turbulent flow fit the data reasonably well for fibers less than 10 μm in length. The addition of a term to account for the influence of partial turbulence on interception efficiency improved the fit of the data for the longer fibers to the model.