Risk Assessment of COVID Infection by Respiratory Droplets from Cough for Various Ventilation Scenarios Inside an Elevator An OpenFOAM based Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis

TL;DR

This study uses OpenFOAM to simulate respiratory droplet dynamics in elevator scenarios, assessing infection risks under various ventilation conditions to inform safety measures during COVID-19.

Contribution

It provides a detailed CFD analysis of droplet spread in elevators considering different ventilation modes and real-life actions like door opening and passenger movement.

Findings

Quiescent environment increases infection risk.

Ventilation with exhaust fan reduces droplet concentration.

Droplet spread varies with air circulation patterns.

Abstract

Respiratory droplets exhaled during speaking, coughing or sneezing have been responsible for the spread of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The droplet dynamics depend on the surrounding air velocity, temperature and relative humidity. Droplets evaporate to form aerosols which contain the disease spreading virus. In a confined space like an elevator, the risk of transmission becomes higher when there is an infected person inside the elevator with other individuals. In this work, a numerical study is carried out in a 3D domain resembling an elevator using OpenFoam. Different modes of air circulation are considered inside the elevator and the impact of these air circulations on droplet dynamics is investigated. The scenario of the opening of elevator door and the passenger leaving the elevator has also been considered in order to simulate a real life condition. A pedantic analysis of certain risk assessment factors and remedial measures to be adopted has been performed which include the number of aerosols present in the zone of 0.8 to 1.8 m, the radial spread of the suspended droplets around the mouth of the infected person. From these factors, the safe condition can be understood. The time period up to which the elevator will be risk prone has also been investigated in case the person coughs just before leaving the elevator. After conducting these studies, the quiescent environment has been found out to be the most dangerous whereas ventilation with an exhaust fan is the safest.