Efficient computations of gas transport in the respiratory tree.

The equation governing the transport of an inert gas in the respiratory tree is a linear PDE. There are several clinical situations where the PDE must be solved on a large number of consecutive breaths and, on each breath, a very small number of linear functionals of this solution evaluated. In this...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Whiteley, J, Gavaghan, D
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2003
Description
Summary:The equation governing the transport of an inert gas in the respiratory tree is a linear PDE. There are several clinical situations where the PDE must be solved on a large number of consecutive breaths and, on each breath, a very small number of linear functionals of this solution evaluated. In this study we show how the solution of a relatively small number of adjoint problems may be used to calculate these linear functionals, thus reducing the volume of computation significantly. This technique may be used with other physical problems.