Physical model of human respiration

Physical model of human

respiration

Sepehri S
Young Researchers Club
Islamic Azad University of Shiraz

Abstract

In this paper, we detail physical based Keywords: Physical modeling, human

model of human respiration. Slow deep respiration, tunnel diode oscillator, Van
breathing is modeled by tunnel diode der Pol equation, limited cycle,
oscillator. The variation of lungs relaxation oscillation.
volume during inhale and exhale is
supposed to be similar to voltage
variation of model. The differential
equation of the electrical system is
derived and found to be Van der Pol
equation. Numerical analysis of the
differential equation and plot of the
phase plane portrait and relaxation
oscillation exactly show the equivalence
of the electrical oscillator and human
respiration.

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1386 ‫ زﻣﺴﺘﺎن‬- 38 ‫ﺷﻤﺎره‬
Introduction
A simulation is an imitation of some
real thing or process. The act of
simulating something generally entails
representing certain key characteristics
or behaviors of physical system.
Physical simulation refers to simulation
in which physical object are substitute
for real thing. These physical objects are
often chosen because they are easier to
analyze, cheaper, and smaller than
actual object or system.
Here, we represent a physical model to
simulate the respiratory system. This
typical model refers only to lung
volume variation with respect to time,
in question.
Respiratory system: Human
respiratory system consists of so many
parts such as nasal cavity, pharynx,
bronchi, and so on. The primary
function of respiratory system is to
obtain oxygen for the use of bodies cells
and eliminate carbon dioxide that cells
produce. Breathing is an active process
requiring the contraction of skeletal
muscles. The primary muscles of
respiration include the external
intercostal muscles and the diaphragm.
Figure 1. The mechanics of breathing
Contraction of external intercostal
muscles and diaphragm lowers air
pressure in lungs and causes air to move
into lungs. This process is called
respiration. To exhale, relaxation of
external intercostals muscles and
diaphragm is needed. In this procedure
the pressure in the lungs are increased
and the air is exhaled.
As the external intercostals and
diaphragm contract, the lungs expand.
The expansion of the lungs causes the
pressure in the lungs (and alveoli) to
become slightly negative relative to
atmospheric pressure. During
expiration, the respiration muscles relax
and lung volume decreases. This causes
the pressure in the lungs (and alveoli) to
become slightly positive relative to
atmospheric pressure. As a result, air
leaves the lungs. There are also different
breathing styles at deferent frequencies:
Calm breath, Casual involuntary breath
of healthy individuals which includes a
considerable amount of abdomen
motion due to the important
contribution of the diaphragm. This
neutral breath encapsulates the most
comfortable and energy efficient
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Figure 2. Volume of various synthesized breathing styles.
sustainable respiration.
Slow deep breath, also called deep belly
breathing in yoga; this movement
reaches the full range of the respiratory
system in the abdomen, from full inhale
with maximum air capacity to the
greatest expulsion. This breath is used
as exercise and to maintain health,
especially for the abdomen, because it
forces intense stretching and full
contraction
Panting breathing, opposite of deep
belly breathing, the high frequency
pulsing of panting breath yields small
rapid inhales and exhales where most of
the motion is seen in the chest and
upper torso. Such shoulder breathing
commonly associated with nervousness,
can lead to undue stress in the
overworked muscles at the top of the
ribcage.
Forced breathing, In addition to
periodic breathing styles, a hard forced
exhale can be used to clear the lungs or
its passageways. During a forced
exhale, the rectus acts to pull the lower
ribcage downward and inward as it
collapses the abdomen deeply and
quickly.
An important fact that should be took
into consideration is that all of these
14
Physical model of human respiration
styles ends to calm breath , means that
the breath styles after a long time will
be calm breath .
As can be seen in figure (2), which
shows the lung cavity volume over
time, the variation of volume with time
is somehow oscillatory, but this
oscillation is not a simple harmonic
oscillation. There are fast changes of
volume near certain values of time with
relatively slowly varying regions in
between. This is called relaxation
oscillation. Since all breathing styles
approach to calm breathing after long
enough time, the respiration system is
displaying the so called “Limit cycle".
Limit cycle corresponds to a periodic
motion which the system approaches no
matter what the initial conditions are.
Simulating the respiration by an
electronic circuit: Here, we detail an
electronic circuit whose behavior is
dramatically the same as the respiratory
system .It is a typical tunnel diode
oscillator. To see how this model can
simulate the respiratory system, we will
derive the differential equation
describing its oscillation.
Figure (3) shows the current versus
voltage characteristics of nonlinear
tunnel diode. The battery voltage in the
1386 ‫ زﻣﺴﺘﺎن‬- 38 ‫ﺷﻤﺎره‬

Figure 3. Characteristic curve of tunnel diode Figure 4. Typical tunnel diode oscillator

circuit (figure (4)) is adjusted to 

v(t)
coincide with inflection point of I vs. V    t  2      
curve. In the neighborhood of operating  iL(t)  c 2 v(t)a v(t) 3bv2(t) v(t) 0
point, we may write t  R t  t  t 
i (t )   av(t )  bv (t ) where I and v are
3

From the definition of inductance, one

current and voltage relative to values of
di L V L
operating point. Labeling the diode has  .By applying the
current as i D , then from current voltage dt L
kirchhoff's potential drop rule to outer
we have: (1) i D  i s  i (t )
loop of circuit we know that VL  v(t ) .
Kirchhoff's current rule states that the
Substituting the induction definition and
current i L through inductor L is equal to dividing Eq. (4) by C
sum of the currents through the resistor yields:(5)
R, capacitor C, and the diode D. (2)
 1 a 3bv 2 t    2 
 i L  i R  iC  i S  av(t )  bv 3 (t )  0     vt    2 vt   2 vt   0
 CR C
 C  t t 

The voltage drop across the resistor VR
1
and capacitor VC are equal to voltage where   is the frequency. By
drop across the LC
diode.(3) introducing a dimensionless time
VD VS v(t) , VR VS v(t) , VC VS v(t) variable  defined by t   and a

The currents through resistor and dimensionless voltage variable defined
capacitor are i R  VR / R a 1
 dV  by vt   x  R Van der Pol
and iC  C  c  , respectively. With 3b
 dt  equation results. (6)
all these relation entered and taking the
    
  
2
time derivative of Eq. (2) we get:(4)  2 x    1  x 2    x   x   0
     
where  is positive dimensionless

15

Figure 5. Relaxation oscillation at VdP for
 = 1, 2, 3,
parameter related to the circuit
aR  1
parameters. (7)  
CR
The Van der Pol equation which is
derived here can be regarded as a simple
harmonic oscillator equation to which a
variable damping term has been added.
When x 1 the damping term tends to
reduce the magnitude of oscillation but
for x 1 one has a negative damping
term which tends to increase oscillation.
Results of the Model: As the
dimensionless parameter  becomes
larger compared to one, the Van der Pol
solution displays the so-called
relaxation oscillation. Figure (5) is
plotted by numerically solving the Van
der Pol equation to different amount
of  .
There are fast changes of x  near
certain values of  with relatively slow
varying regions in between. As  is
further increased, the slowly varying
regions span longer time intervals.
Figure (6) is the limit cycles in phase
plane for the Van der Pol oscillator as
function of increasing  . This figure is
16
Physical model of human respiration
Figure 6. VdP limit cycles for  = 1, 2, 3,
produced by numerically solving the
Van der Pol equation with Runge –kutta
–fehlberg forth-fifth order algorithm in
maple software.
Figure (7) shows the phase plain portrait
for  =1 with tangent field. Here we
have an unstable focal point at the
origin and the bold line is the stable
limit cycle which all other trajectories
approach to.
Discussion
For   1 the Van der Pol differential
equation displays relaxation oscillation
and limit cycles corresponding to
relaxation oscillation and calm
breathing of real human respiration,
respectively. In the model, regardless of
initial condition, system approaches to a
periodic motion corresponds to limit
cycle and in real respiration, all breath
styles approaches to calm breathing.
Mathematical Analysis of the
differential equation describing the
model reveals strong correspondence
between our model results and real
human respiration.
1386 ‫ زﻣﺴﺘﺎن‬- 38 ‫ﺷﻤﺎره‬
Figure 7. Isoclines, tangent field of the VdP for
Results
Human respiration is a kind of
relaxation oscillation and any variation
in respiration like panting will at last
change to calm breathing. The phase
plan portrait of Van der Pol equation
shows that, there exists a particular
closed trajectory, the limit cycle. It
means, no matter what the initial
condition is, there would be finally calm
breathing. Therefore, the electrical
model could be treated as an equivalent
for human respiration and Van der Pol
equation is the differential equation
describing the breathing process.
 =1
References
1- Victor B. Zordan,et al., “Breathe
easy: Model and control of human
respiration for computer animation”
Graphical Models 68 (2006) 113–132
2- Sobhan Sepehri, “Study the negative
resistance in Negistor 2N2222” First
Payam Noor of Ahwaz Physics
Conference, 2006
3- Richard H. Ennes, “Nonlinear
Physics with maple for scientists and
engineers”, Birkhauser, Boston, 2000
4- Johan Byström, Lars-Erik Persson
and Fredrik Strömberg, “A basic course
in applied mathematics”,ebook online,
http://www.sm.luth.se/~johanb/applmat
h/indexen.htm
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