TY - JOUR
T1 - Avalanches in the lung
T2 - A statistical mechanical model
AU - Barabási, Albert László
AU - Buldyrev, Sergey V.
AU - Stanley, H. Eugene
AU - Suki, Béla
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - We study a statistical mechanical model for the dynamics of lung inflation which incorporates recent experimental observations on the opening of individual airways by a cascade or avalanche mechanism. Using an exact mapping of the avalanche problem onto percolation on a Cayley tree, we analytically derive the exponents describing the size distribution of the first avalanches and test the analytical solution by numerical simulations. We find that the treelike structure of the airways, together with the simplest assumptions concerning opening threshold pressures of each airway, is sufficient to explain the existence of power-law distributions observed experimentally.
AB - We study a statistical mechanical model for the dynamics of lung inflation which incorporates recent experimental observations on the opening of individual airways by a cascade or avalanche mechanism. Using an exact mapping of the avalanche problem onto percolation on a Cayley tree, we analytically derive the exponents describing the size distribution of the first avalanches and test the analytical solution by numerical simulations. We find that the treelike structure of the airways, together with the simplest assumptions concerning opening threshold pressures of each airway, is sufficient to explain the existence of power-law distributions observed experimentally.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0000079333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.2192
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.2192
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0000079333
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 76
SP - 2192
EP - 2195
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 12
ER -