Session: 04-11-01 Posters

Paper Number: 195280

195280 - Airborne Virus-Laden Aerosol Transmission and Mitigation Strategies in a 3d Md-80 Airline Cabin: A Computational Fluid Dynamics (Cfd) Study 

Abstract: 

Airborne transmission of infectious diseases in airline cabins remains a health concern. To understand and mitigate the spread of virus-laden droplets, an experimentally validated computational fluid particle dynamics (CFPD) model was employed to simulate the transport and deposition of virus-laden aerosol in a commercial aircraft. Specifically, a highly detailed 3D computer-aided design (CAD) geometry of a four-row McDonnell-Douglas (MD)-80 airline cabin was reconstructed with virtual passengers seated and separated by one vacant seat or the aisle. The modeled cabin measures approximately 3.38 m in width, 2.06 m in maximum height, and 4.06 m in length, with a seat pitch of 0.9 m. To ensure computational accuracy and efficiency, a poly-hexcore mesh with 6 near-wall prism layers was generated, with approximately 4.03 million mesh cells. The simulation incorporates realistic boundary conditions, including main ventilation with an air supply of 9.4 L/s per seat, natural convection from human body heat, and localized gasper flows. Transient jet profiles for coughing, talking, and breathing were applied at the virtual passenger's mouth openings, injecting multi-component droplets ranging from 100 nm to 5 µm in diameter to represent virus-laden aerosols. To evaluate targeted mitigation strategies, a localized “suction bowl” (the filtration system) with a radius of 38.08 mm was embedded in the back of the seat, directly in front of the emitting passenger, positioned at approximately 490 mm from the mouth opening. Filtration efficiency was evaluated at different suction flow rates, i.e., 80 and 120 cubic feet per min(CFM), and droplet sizes. Simulation results demonstrate that increasing the suction bowl flow rate consistently improves overall filtration efficiency, as more droplets are directed toward the bowl rather than dispersed by surrounding cabin airflow. However, the relationship between particle size and filtration efficiency is complex and non-linear due to the combined effects of turbulence dispersion, inertial momentum, and gravitational sedimentation. For instance, at 120 CFM, filtration efficiency was highest for 100 nm (i.e., 77.90%) and 500 nm (i.e.,76.96%) particles. It decreased by 250 nm particles (i.e., 39.18%) due to their specific inertial and turbulent behaviors, preventing them from entering the suction streamline zones during the first 0.2 seconds. For the largest droplets (i.e., 5 µm), efficiency dropped significantly to 21.29%, primarily due to strong gravitational sedimentation, which caused them to fall before reaching the suction bowl. Furthermore, simulations with varying suction frequencies (i.e., 0 Hz, 1 Hz, 10 Hz, and 100 Hz) showed that continuous suction achieved the highest filtration efficiency for 1 µm droplets (i.e., 66.88%), whereas pulsed suction dropped to as low as 9.59% at 10 Hz. This CFPD framework and localized mitigation analysis provide critical fundamental guidance for optimizing airline ventilation designs to reduce passenger exposure risks.

Presenting Author: Yu Feng Oklahoma State University

Presenting Author Biography: 

Authors:

Hang Yi Oklahoma State University
Yu Feng Oklahoma State University