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arXiv · cond-mat/9602046

Avalanches in the lung: A statistical mechanical model

A. -L. Barabási·S. V. Buldyrev·H. E. Stanley·B. Suki
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Abstract

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 tree-like 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.

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A. -L. Barabási, S. V. Buldyrev, H. E. Stanley, B. Suki. 1996-02-08. Avalanches in the lung: A statistical mechanical model. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.76.2192

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