Journal of Flow Visualization and Image Processing

ISSN for PRINT: 1065-3090

For Online Access

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2001, Volume8

Issue 2-3

110 pages

Issue price - $280.00

Toshinori Watanabe
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

Taizo Horikomi
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

Fundamental description of oscillatory flow phenomena in a branched tube was obtained to study the enhancement mechanism of gas exchange in the human lung system. The oscillatory flow fields were visualized and analyzed by experimental and numerical methods. From the results, longitudinal vortices were found in the branched region, which were well known as the secondary flow vortices in a curved flow channel. The effect of the longitudinal vortices on mass transport in the flow was studied through the measurement of the local concentration of the mingled ink in water in a curved tube where a pair of longitudinal secondary vortices were generated. The results revealed that the effective diffusion coefficient in the curved tube was several times larger than that in a straight tube for the studied case. Numerical results clearly showed the flow details and the enhancement mechanism of mass transport brought by the longitudinal vortex.

Download article, 20 pages

Article price - $35.00

<< Previous article   Next article >>