Containing the spread of viruses with aerosol simulation!

Everyone of us has at least once seen the effect that dust particels apparently don’t fall to the ground or get stirred up if – for example – the door opens. In summer, it is very easy to notice it when the sun is shining in closed rooms. Dust particles belong to the group of aerosols, which are dispersed tiny airborne particles.

A lot smaller than aerosols are viruses, which can be found in aerosol droplets. If the flow in a room is known, you can say that these tiny droplets spread with the air. As a consequence the viruses can spread nearly everywhere, provided, that the air flow  takes them there. Virologues say that the risk of infection is higher if many aerosols and therefore viruses are being inhaled. The propability of this happening is higher in closed rooms with many persons (aerosol-sources).

So called Hot-Spots in for example the current COVID-19 pandemic are big permanent establishments and office buildings. Even though the causes are diverse, newest calculations show that especially unfavourable ventilation systems & floor plans increase the risk of infection drastically.

CFD simulations are very helpful to visualize flows  in rooms. In this way, the spread of aerosols can already be calculated in the planning stage to avoid unfavourable ventilation or floor plans from the start.