How the Sandfish Lizard Filters Particles and What We May Learn from It
| Autor: | Anna Theresia Stadler, Werner Baumgartner, Michael Krieger |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
030110 physiology
0106 biological sciences 0301 basic medicine Characteristic morphology biology Flow (psychology) Airflow Context (language use) Mechanics Scincus scincus biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Central region 03 medical and health sciences Particle flow Geology |
| Zdroj: | Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems ISBN: 9783319959719 Living Machines |
| DOI: | 10.1007/978-3-319-95972-6_47 |
| Popis: | The sandfish lizard Scincus scincus spends its life in the aeolian dune deserts. To prevent sand grains from entering its lungs, it is hypothesized that the particles are aerodynamically filtered when they enter the nasal cavity: The vestibulum is a narrow rounded channel leading to a kind of Open image in new window , where cilia and mucus are present. In this chamber the particles get caught by mucus during a slow, long-lasting inhalation (2 s) due to the air flow induced by the characteristic morphology in this area, and eventually get exhaled because of an intense, cough-like exhalation that lasts only 40 ms. To verify this theory we studied the filtering system by integrating experiments and computational fluid dynamic simulations of fluid and particle flow. The simulations show that the flow profile anterior to and in the chamber is characterized by a strong cross-flow velocity that moves the sand grains towards the mucus-covered wall; particles usually remain close to the lower wall of the vestibulum and subsequently get trapped. Due to the air flow profile particles would get trapped even if they reached the central region of the nasal cavity. In this context we explore the possibility to optimize state of the art filtering systems. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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