The effect of stifling a sneeze on the human upper airway

In the present study a real human upper airwaymodel has been used. The pressure and velocity of the air flowhave been investigated and generated in the tract during thesneezing. Moreover, the outlet flow rate from the mouth duringthe sneezing was obtained using a spirometer device. To sum up,the simulation results indicated that the outlet average flow rateexisting in the mouth region, reached to more than ten liter persecond. By having such outlet flow rate, the highest deformationcreated in the upper airway was calculated using the Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) method and it has been confirmedthat the majority of the deformation happened in the maxillarysinus as well as the throat.

Keywords:

component , Sneeze , Upper airway , Deformation , FSI