Airway pressures in an asymmetrically branched airway model of the dog respiratory system

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215; and Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physiological Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616

A computer model of the mechanical properties of the dog respiratory system based on the asymmetrically branching airway model of Horsfield et al. (11) is described. The peripheral ends of this airway model were terminated by a lumped-parameter impedance representing gas compression in the alveoli, and lung and chest wall tissue properties were derived from measurements made in this laboratory. Using this model we predicted the respiratory system impedance and the distribution of pressures along the airways in the dog lung. Predicted total respiratory system impedances for frequencies between 4 and 64 Hz at three lung volumes were found to compare quite closely to measured impedances in dogs. Serial pressure distributions were found to be frequency-dependent and to result in higher pressures in the lung periphery than at the airway opening at some frequencies. The implications of this fading for high-frequency ventilation are discussed.

Submitted on November 14, 1983
Accepted on May 8, 1984

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