Respiratory pathway

When breathing, air enters the lungs through a large entrance, the trachea, and eventually branches into
smaller and smaller segments until reaching the smallest elements of the lungs, the alveoli. Each of these
thin elements is in close proximity to blood in pulmonary capillaries, which are the smallest and thinnest
of the blood vessels. With each of the alveoli in close proximity to a pulmonary capillary, the distance for
gas exchange is very short, which thus shortens the time by which complete gas exchange occurs. The
human lungs control gas exchange from our environment into the bloodstream by means of pressure and
concentration gradients.

Mathematical Model

Capillaries located close to the alveoli of the lung carry the blood close to the airspace so that
oxygen can be diffused in and saturate hemoglobin and carbon dioxide can diffuse out. A capillary
in the lung that has initial point x = 0 and terminal point x = L that is positioned next to an alveolus.
The capillary has cross-sectional area equal to the constant A and a perimeter p, and blood flows
through the capillary from the initial to the terminal point, outside of which no diffusion is
occurring.

𝐿
𝐿
ⅆ
(𝐴 ∫ 𝑈(𝑥, 𝑡)ⅆ𝑥 ) = 𝐴𝑣(0)𝑈(0, 𝑡) + 𝑝 ∫ 𝑞(𝑥, 𝑡)ⅆ𝑡 − 𝐴𝑣(𝐿)𝑈(𝐿, 𝑡)
ⅆ𝑥 0
0

Where:
U - concentration of some gas dissolved in the blood
v(x) - is the velocity of the fluid at position x
q - flux of gas along the capillary
p – perimeter of the cross section of the capillary

The first term, 𝐴𝑣(0)𝑈(0, 𝑡) represents the movement into the capillary at the initial position x=0
at velocity v(0) and the third term, −𝐴𝑣(𝐿)𝑈(𝐿, 𝑡), represents movement out of the capillary at
𝐿
the end position x = L at velocity v(L). The second term, 𝑝 ∫0 𝑞(𝑥, 𝑡)ⅆ𝑡 , represents the change in
flux for along the perimeter of the capillary of length L.