Infection control measures for public transportation derived from the flow dynamics of obstructed cough jet

C. T. Wang, J. C. Xu, K. C. Chan, H. H. Lee, C. Y. Tso, Carol S.K. Lin, Christopher Y.H. Chao, S. C. Fu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO and CDC suggest people stay 1 m and 1.8 m away from others, respectively. Keeping social distance can avoid close contact and mitigate infection spread. Many researchers suspect that suggested distances are not enough because aerosols can spread up to 7–8 m away. Despite the debate on social distance, these social distances rely on unobstructed respiratory activities such as coughing and sneezing. Differently, in this work, we focused on the most common but less studied aerosol spread from an obstructed cough. The flow dynamics of a cough jet blocked by the backrest and gasper jet in a cabin environment was characterized by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. It was proved that the backrest and the gasper jet can prevent the front passenger from droplet spray in public transportation where maintaining social distance was difficult. A model was developed to describe the cough jet trajectory due to the gasper jet, which matched well with PIV results. It was found that buoyancy and inside droplets almost do not affect the short-range cough jet trajectory. Infection control measures were suggested for public transportation, including using backrest/gasper jet, installing localized exhaust, and surface cleaning of the backrest.
Original languageEnglish
Article number105995
JournalJournal of Aerosol Science
Volume163
Online published1 Apr 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2022

Funding

The work was supported by the Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) project (no. C1105-20G) and the General Research Fund (no. 17207121) granted by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.

Research Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Gasper jet
  • Jet interaction
  • Particle image velocimetry
  • Public transport

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