A mathematical model of lung parenchyma

The geometry of the proposed model of the parenchyma of a mammalian lung reproduces a cluster of alveoli arranged around a lowest-level air duct. The alveolar walls are assumed to be nonlinear elastic membranes, whose properties are described in terms of a strain energy function which reflects the hardening character of the stress-strain curve. The effect of the surfactant is included in terms of a variable (area-dependent) surface tension. Analyses of various mechanical processes in the parenchyma are performed with the aid of the finite element method, with the geometric and physical nonlinearities of the problem taken into account.