INVESTIGATION OF AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION OF COVID-19 AND OTHER TRANSMISSIBLE AIRBORNE DISEASES IN AIRPLANES, AND PUBLIC INDOOR SPACES USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS AND SPATIOTEMPORAL RISK-MAPS

Abstract

Airborne transmission through respiratory-generated aerosol is identified as one of the major causes of spreading infectious respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. Assessing the risks associated with virus-laden aerosol exposure in a high-density indoor environment is crucial for the risk mitigation of airborne contagious disease transmission. Identification of the most effective strategies is required for the mitigation of airborne disease transmission in the indoor environment. The Eulerian-Lagrangian method combined with two-way coupling was used to numerically obtain the aerosol transport, spatial distribution, and deposition information in indoor environments using Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The study found that aerosol transmission is highly influenced by different factors such as escalator operational speed, ventilation configuration type, index passenger location, and number of outlets. The highly infection zones change accordingly. Further study is required to determine the impact of other associated factors with different intervention strategies.