An experimental and numerical study on deposition of bioaerosols in a scaled chamber

This work presents an experimental facility designed and built with the objective of understanding the deposition of bioaerosols in indoor environments. Multiple depositions of two microorganisms Staphylococcus and Micrococcus inside a test chamber were investigated under two air mixing conditions. Airflow rate was demonstrated to have an influence on the concentration homogeneity. An increased proportion of particle deposition was found in the floor section near the chamber wall opposite to the air inlet when air mixing was not enhanced by the mixing fans. Both the experimental results and Eulerian-Lagrangian computations revealed that a small mixing fan inside the chamber prompted very effective mixing while non-homogeneity was observed even at a very high ventilation rate. The results showed that both ventilation rate and mixing conditions in the ventilated chamber have influence on the bioaerosol dispersion and deposition.