Simulation of aerosol transmission on a Boeing 737 airplane with intervention measures for COVID-19 mitigation

Talaat, Khaled; Abuhegazy, Mohamed; Mahfoze, Omar Ahmed; Anderoglu, Osman; Poroseva, Svetlana V.

doi:10.1063/5.0044720

Cited by 79 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Previous studies reported that passengers on aircraft were prone to infection during epidemics of respiratory infectious diseases, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and influenza A (H1N1) [18][19][20]. In theory, in-flight transmission of COVID-19 could occur via direct physical contact, droplet spread, aerosol, and suspended small particles [21][22][23]. In this study, we found only two patients confirmed as infected who might have acquired the infection during the flight or the incubation period before boarding.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study

Zhang

Qin

et al. 2021

Annals of Medicine

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Objectives To explore the potential of SARS-CoV-2 spread during air travel and the risk of in-flight transmission. Methods We enrolled all passengers and crew suspected of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, who bounded for Beijing on international flights. We specified the characteristics of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection and utilised Wells-Riley equation to estimate the infectivity of COVID-19 during air travel. Results We screened 4492 passengers and crew with suspected COVID-19 infection, verified 161 confirmed cases (mean age 28.6 years), and traced two confirmed cases who may have been infected in the aircraft. The estimated infectivity was 375 quanta/h (range 274–476), while the effective infectivity was only 4 quanta/h (range 2–5). The risk of per-person infection during a 13 h air travel in economy class was 0.56‰ (95% CI 0.41‰–0.72‰). Conclusion We found that the universal use of face masks on the flight, together with the plane's ventilation system, significantly decreased the infectivity of COVID-19. KEY MESSAGES The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the lifestyle in the world, especially air travel which has the potential to spread SARS-CoV-2. The universal use of face masks on the flight, together with the plane's ventilation system, significantly decreased the infectivity of COVID-19 on an aircraft. Our findings suggest that the risk of infection in aircraft was negligible.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study

Zhang

Qin

et al. 2021

Annals of Medicine

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“…We tried to generate the geometry of the vehicles' cabins accurately. The passengers' human bodies were designed with simplified details to decrease the uncertainty and error in the mesh, as suggested in previous studies [33,65].…”

Section: Cfd Model Set-upmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To decrease the simulation error, we followed the suggested methodology and considerations in the previous case studies. The base mesh and set-up of the discrete model was done according to the recent studies on aerosol transmission [33,[66][67][68]. To solve the Navier-Stokes equations in the simulation model, the k−ε turbulence method was used as the performance has been verified in similar case studies [68][69][70][71][72].…”

Section: Cfd Model Set-upmentioning

confidence: 99%

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CFD Investigation of Vehicle’s Ventilation Systems and Analysis of ACH in Typical Airplanes, Cars, and Buses

et al. 2021

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The simulation of the ventilation and the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems of vehicles could be used in the energy demand management of vehicles besides improving the air quality inside their cabins. Moreover, traveling by public transport during a pandemic is a concerning factor, and analysis of the vehicle’s cabin environments could demonstrate how to decrease the risk and create a safer journey for passengers. Therefore, this article presents airflow analysis, air changes per hour (ACH), and respiration aerosols’ trajectory inside three vehicles, including a typical car, bus, and airplane. In this regard, three vehicles’ cabin environment boundary conditions and the HVAC systems of the selected vehicles were determined, and three-dimensional numerical simulations were performed using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling. The analysis of the airflow patterns and aerosol trajectories in the selected vehicles demonstrate the critical impact of inflow, outflow, and passenger’s locations in the cabins. The CFD model results exhibited that the lowest risk could be in the airplane and the highest in the bus because of the location of airflows and outflows. The discrete CFD model analysis determined the ACH for a typical car of about 4.3, a typical bus of about 7.5, and in a typical airplane of about 8.5, which were all less than the standard protocol of infection prevention, 12 ACH. According to the results, opening windows in the cars could decrease the aerosol loads and improve the low ACH by the HVAC systems. However, for the buses, a new design for the outflow location or an increase in the number of outflows appeared necessary. In the case of airplanes, the airflow paths were suitable, and by increasing the airflow speed, the required ACH might be achieved. Finally, in the closed (recirculating) systems, the role of filters in decreasing the risk appeared critical.

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“…Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is increasingly being used to study the detailed flow physics of airborne diseases. Talaat et al (2021) used steady Reynolds-Average Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations to predict the flow field in the cabin of a Boeing 737 airplane to assess mitigation and safety of air travel. Several recent papers presented detailed analyses of the flow physics of a cough using direct numerical simulation ( Fabregat et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the utility of a well-mixed model for predicting disease transmission on an urban bus

2021

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The transport of virus-laden aerosols from a host to a susceptible person is governed by complex turbulent airflow and physics related to breathing, coughing and sneezing, mechanical and passive ventilation, thermal buoyancy effects, surface deposition, masks, and air filtration. In this paper, we study the infection risk via airborne transmission on an urban bus using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations and a passive-scalar model of the virus-laden aerosol concentration. Results from these simulations are directly compared to the widely used well-mixed model and show significant differences in the concentration field and number of inhaled particles. Specifically, in the limit of low mechanical ventilation rates, the well-mixed model will overpredict the concentration far from the infected passenger and substantially underpredict the concentration near the infected passenger. The results reported herein also apply to other enclosed spaces.

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Simulation of aerosol transmission on a Boeing 737 airplane with intervention measures for COVID-19 mitigation

Cited by 79 publications

References 50 publications

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 during air travel: a descriptive and modelling study

CFD Investigation of Vehicle’s Ventilation Systems and Analysis of ACH in Typical Airplanes, Cars, and Buses

On the utility of a well-mixed model for predicting disease transmission on an urban bus

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