2022/01/19 by Justin Tahmassebpur, P. H. Diamond, Tahmassebpur, Justin +1
Engineering · Environmental Science · Medicine · #Aerodynamics and Acoustics in Jet Flows #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Infection Control and Ventilation #Wind and Air Flow Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2201.07739
openalex publication_date 2022/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We show that enhanced turbulent mixing can be used to mitigate airborne COVID-19 transmission by dispersing virus-laden clouds in enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces. A simple system of fan-driven turbulent jets is designed so as to minimize peak concentrations of passive contaminants on time scales short compared to the room ventilation time. Standard Reynolds-average and similarity methods are used, and combinations of circular and radial wall jets are considered. The turbulent diffusivity and contaminant mixing time are calculated. Results indicate that this approach can significantly reduce peak virus cloud concentrations, especially in small spaces with low occupancy, such as restrooms. Turbulent mixing is, of course, ineffective in the absence of ventilation.