1 research outputs found
Computational investigation of prolonged airborne dispersion of novel coronavirus-laden droplets
We have performed highly accurate numerical simulations to investigate prolonged dispersion of
novel coronavirus-laden droplets in classroom air. Approximately 10,900 virus-laden droplets
were released into the air by a teacher coughing and tracked for 90 min by numerical simulations.
The teacher was standing in front of multiple students in a classroom. To estimate viral transmission to the students, we considered the features of the novel coronavirus, such as the virus
half-life. The simulation results revealed that there was a high risk of prolonged airborne transmission of virus-laden droplets when the outlet flow of the classroom ventilation was low (i.e., 4.3
and 8.6 cm/s). The rates of remaining airborne virus-laden droplets produced by the teacher
coughing were 40% and 15% after 45 and 90 min, respectively. The results revealed that students
can avoid exposure to the virus-laden droplets by keeping a large distance from the teacher (5.5
m), which is more than two times farther than the currently suggested social distancing rules. The
results of this study provide guidelines to set a new protection plan in the classroom to prevent
airborne transmission of virus-laden droplets to students