# Optimizing cabin air inlet velocities and personal risk assessment: Introducing the Personal Contamination Ratio (PCR) method for enhanced aircraft cabin infection risk evaluation

## TL;DR

This study introduces a new method to assess infection risk in aircraft cabins by analyzing airflow and droplet movement, showing that higher air supply velocities can significantly reduce contamination.

## Contribution

The study introduces the Personal Contamination Ratio (PCR) method and improves breathing zone calculations for droplet tracking in aircraft cabins.

## Key findings

- Increasing air supply velocity reduces potential infections by 51.8% and exposure risk by 26.4%.
- Larger droplets show more stable movement at higher air supply velocities compared to smaller ones.
- The PCR method provides a comprehensive analysis of droplet dynamics across particle sizes.

## Abstract

Recurrent epidemics of respiratory infections have drawn attention from the academic community and the general public in recent years. Aircraft plays a pivotal role in facilitating the cross-regional transmission of pathogens. In this study, we initially utilized an Airbus A320 model for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, subsequently validating the model’s efficacy in characterizing cabin airflow patterns through comparison with empirical data. Building upon this validated framework, we investigate the transport dynamics of droplets of varying sizes under three air supply velocities. The Euler-Lagrangian method is employed to meticulously track key parameters associated with droplet transport, enabling a comprehensive analysis of particle behavior within the cabin environment. This study integrates acquired data into a novel PCR (Personal Contamination Rate) equation to assess individual contamination rates. Numerical simulations demonstrate that increasing air supply velocity leads to enhanced stability in the movement of larger particles compared to smaller ones. Results show that the number of potential infections in the cabin decreases by 51.8% at the highest air supply velocity compared to the base air supply velocity, and the total exposure risk rate reduced by 26.4%. Thus, optimizing air supply velocity within a specific range effectively reduces the potential infection area. In contrast to previous research, this study provides a more comprehensive analysis of droplet movement dynamics across various particle sizes. We introduce an improved method for calculating the breathing zone, thereby enhancing droplet counting accuracy. These findings have significant implications for improving non-pharmacological public health interventions and optimizing cabin ventilation system design.