Computational fluid dynamic analysis of corona virus patients breathing in an airplane

Abstract

Effective ventilation systems are essential to control the transmission of airborne aerosol particles, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus in aircraft cabins, which is a significant concern for people commuting by airplane. Validated computational fluid dynamic models are frequently and effectively used to investigate air distribution and pollutant transport. In this study, the effectiveness of different ventilation systems with varying outlet vent locations were computationally compared to determine the best ventilation system for minimizing the risk of airborne transmission. The cabin air conditioning system was optimized to determine how design variables (air inlet temperature, outlet valve width and location, and mass flow rate) affect output parameters, including particle residence time, age of air, and thermal comfort conditions. Inlet mass flow rate was observed to be an influential variable impacting all output parameters, especially on age of air, where it was the most influential. In contrast, the least effective variable was width of the outlet valve, which only affected the particle residence time. Also, Predicted Mean Vote and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied indices were the most affected by air inlet temperature, which had an inverse relation, while the outlet valve location had the greatest effect on particle residence time.