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Airborne respiratory aerosol transport and deposition in a two-person office using a novel diffusion-based numerical model

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic was caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses transmitted mainly through exposure to airborne respiratory droplets and aerosols carrying the virus.

Objective

To assess the transport and dispersion of respiratory aerosols containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus and other viruses in a small office space using a diffusion-based computational modeling approach.

Methods

A 3-D computational model was used to simulate the airflow inside the 70.2 m3 ventilated office. A novel diffusion model accounting for turbulence dispersion and gravitational sedimentation was utilized to predict droplet concentration transport and deposition. The numerical model was validated and used to investigate the influences of partition height and different ventilation rates on the concentration of respiratory aerosols of various sizes (1, 10, 20, and 50 µm) emitted by continuous speaking.

Results

An increase in the hourly air change rate (ACH) from 2.0 to 5.6 decreased the 1 μm droplet concentration inside the office by a factor of 2.8 and in the breathing zone of the receptor occupant by a factor of 3.2. The concentration at the receptor breathing zone is estimated by the area-weighted average of a 1 m diameter circular disk, with its centroid at the center of the receptor mannequin mouth. While all aerosols were dispersed by airflow turbulence, the gravitational sedimentation significantly influenced the transport of larger aerosols in the room. The 1 and 10 μm aerosols remained suspended in the air and dispersed throughout the room. In contrast, the larger 20 and 50 μm aerosols deposited on the floor quickly due to the gravitational sedimentation. Increasing the partition between cubicles by 0.254 m (10”) has little effect on the smaller aerosols and overall exposure.

Impact

  • This paper provides an efficient computational model for analyzing the concentration of different respiratory droplets and aerosols in an indoor environment. Thus, the approach could be used for assessing the influence of the spatial concentration variations on exposure for which the fully mixed model cannot be used.

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Fig. 1: Two-person office geometry.
Fig. 2: Human-shaped mannequin used in the study.
Fig. 3: Mesh sensitivity study.
Fig. 4: Mesh sensitivity study.
Fig. 5: Mesh sensitivity study.
Fig. 6: Mesh sensitivity study.
Fig. 7: Velocity contours.
Fig. 8: Turbulence intensity variations.
Fig. 9: Concentration variations.
Fig. 10: Concentration variations.
Fig. 11: Bar charts for average and maximum concentrations of 1-µm aerosols in the breathing zone of the receptor mannequin as predicted by the CFD model for different ACHs for partition heights of 1.372 m and 1.626 m.
Fig. 12: Concentration variations.
Fig. 13: Concentration variations.
Fig. 14: Bar charts for average and maximum concentrations in the breathing zone of the receptor mannequin for different particle sizes for partition heights of 1.372 m and 1.626 m compared with room concentrations predicted by the CFD and fully-mixed models.

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Data availability

Some of the simulation data are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through contact # 68HE0B21P0037. Thanks, are also given to Dr. Parsa Zamankan of ANSYS Inc. for his assistance in developing the UDF models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, 13699, USA

    Sohaib Obeid, Andrea R. Ferro & Goodarz Ahmadi

  2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development, Research Triangle Park, Washington, DC, NC, USA

    Paul White, Jacky Rosati Rowe & Vito Ilacqua

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, 13699, USA

    Mahender Singh Rawat

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  1. Sohaib Obeid
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  2. Paul White
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Contributions

SO, with contributions from GA, developed the computational model, performed the simulations, and interpreted the results. SO also was responsible for the model validation and drafted the initial manuscript. PW, JRR, and VI contributed to the project’s conceptualization, provided scientific support, and reviewed the manuscript. MSR and ARF performed the simulations for the fully mixed model, provided scientific support, and reviewed the manuscript. Finally, GA and ARF were responsible for the project’s conceptualization, developing the methodologies, supervising the project, data interpretation, and manuscript writing and editing. All authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Goodarz Ahmadi.

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Obeid, S., White, P., Rosati Rowe, J. et al. Airborne respiratory aerosol transport and deposition in a two-person office using a novel diffusion-based numerical model. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-023-00546-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-023-00546-w

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