Periodic flow at airway bifurcations. II. Flow partitioning.

The distribution of flow among parallel pathways is believed to be determined by the balance of downstream mechanical loads or time constants. We studied the influence of upstream flow conditions and airway geometry vs. downstream mechanical impedances in determining flow partitioning at airway bifurcations. Each model consisted of a single rigid bifurcation with various branching angles and area ratios but having identical pathway impedances. Sinusoidal volumetric oscillations were applied at the parent duct with various frequencies and tidal volumes. Measuring the terminal pressures continuously, we calculated the flow distribution. When flow amplitude was small, flow partitioning was homogeneous and synchronous, as expected in a system possessing homogeneous pathway impedances and time constants. But when flow amplitude was large and frequency was high, appreciable heterogeneity and asynchrony of flow partitioning arose; during midinspiration the high-velocity flow stream preferentially favored the axial pathway. This effect vanished in the absence of a net area change at the bifurcation. For a given bifurcation geometry, these observations could be organized using only two nondimensional parameters, neither of which incorporated consideration of fluid friction. The description of temporal events required, in addition, a nondimensional time. Therefore these flow-dependent phenomena and their underlying mechanisms differ fundamentally from those described in classical impedance models. The complex pattern of nonuniform interregional behaviors apparent in whole lungs when tidal volume and frequency are large (Allen et al., J. Clin. Invest. 76: 620-629, 1985) is reiterated faithfully in models consisting of only two compartments with homogeneous time constants. As such, the behaviors observed in lungs would appear to be attributable in large part to fluid dynamic factors in central airways.