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Abstract: This paper presents a gluing method for composite meshes. Different meshes are generated independently and are glued together using some extension elements to connect them. The resulting global mesh is non-conforming and consists of connected overlapping meshes. The method is inherently implicit, parallel and versatile, in the sense that it is PDE independent. The most cited gluing method is probably the Chimera method, used for overset grids, where patch meshes are superimposed onto a background mesh. The method employed here was originally devised for such situations and is now applied to disjoint or overlapping meshes. One of the advantages of the method is that the meshes do not have to coincide and can present a gap between them. The method is illustrated through some simple examples to demonstrate the mesh convergence and finally applied to the solution of the airflow in the complete respiratory system, by joining independent meshes for the large and small airways. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The nasal valve is the narrowest part of the nasal airway which is responsible for the largest part of the nasal resistance. Even little changes in the aperture can affect the flow downstream through the nose significantly. Its principal function is to limit airflow for example during a rapid and short inhalation, also called a sniff. Coupling Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) allows solving and exchanging force and displacement between the solid and fluid domains and offers a more accurate representation of the physical system in confined flow cases. Furthermore, particle transport and deposition are performed in this study to reveal the effect of the complex coupling on the nasal cavity deposition of inhaled aerosols. Two different configurations are used to model the nasal valve and differences in magnitudes in deformations are observed during the sniff. A comparison between FSI results and the in-vivo evaluation of the deformation shows an acceptable agreement as to the first step of validation. In addition, the results demonstrated that FSI increases significantly the particle deposition in the nasal cavity and the micro-particle diameter is the critical range parameter to enhance deposition with nasal valve deformation during a sniff. • The results demonstrated that FSI increases significantly the particle deposition in the nasal cavity. • The micro-particle diameter is the critical range parameter to enhance deposition with nasal valve deformation during a sniff. • The Comparison between FSI results and the in-vivo evaluation of the deformation shows an acceptable agreement as first step of validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]