Ventilation Efficiency According to Tilt Angle to Reduce the Transmission of Infectious Disease in Classroom

Abstract

Understanding of the droplet transmission of respiratory diseases is necessary to control the outbreak of COVID-19. HVAC systems considering droplet transmission are commonly used to prevent numerous respiratory diseases by reducing indoor virus concentrations. The transmission of the virus was directly related to indoor flow patterns generated by HVAC systems. Thus, a study on operating conditions such as direction or the tilt angle was required. In this study, the effective ventilation rate and probability of droplet transmission according to the tilt angle of supply air and the number of people were studied. A CO2 tracer gas method was used to validate the results of simulations. The breathing plane and personal respiratory zone were introduced for the probability of droplet transmission. The result showed that ventilation performance showed 17% of the maximum difference among tilt angles. Various turbulent kinetic energies were obtained according to the seated positions, resulting in non-uniform CO2 concentration. Numerous conditions were examined with locational analysis of individuals. As a result, the flow rates for ventilation were recommended to be higher than 250 m3/h and 350 m3/h with a tilt angle of 60° for an occupancy of 8 and 16 people, respectively.