TY - JOUR
T1 - TU Delft COVID-app
T2 - A tool to democratize CFD simulations for SARS-CoV-2 infection risk analysis
AU - Faleiros, David Engler
AU - van den Bos, Wouter
AU - Botto, Lorenzo
AU - Scarano, Fulvio
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This work describes a modelling approach to SARS-CoV-2 dispersion based on experiments. The main goal is the development of an application integrated in Ansys Fluent to enable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) users to set up, in a relatively short time, complex simulations of virion-laden droplet dispersion for calculating the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection in real life scenarios. The software application, referred to as TU Delft COVID-app, includes the modelling of human expiratory activities, unsteady and turbulent convection, droplet evaporation and thermal coupling. Data describing human expiratory activities have been obtained from selected studies involving measurements of the expelled droplets and the air flow during coughing, sneezing and breathing. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the transient air flow expelled by a person while reciting a speech have been conducted with and without a surgical mask. The instantaneous velocity fields from PIV are used to determine the velocity flow rates used in the numerical simulations, while the average velocity fields are used for validation. Furthermore, the effect of surgical masks and N95 respirators on particle filtration and the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection from a dose-response model have also been implemented in the application. Finally, the work includes a case-study of SARS-CoV-2 infection risk analysis during a conversation across a dining/meeting table that demonstrates the capability of the newly developed application.
AB - This work describes a modelling approach to SARS-CoV-2 dispersion based on experiments. The main goal is the development of an application integrated in Ansys Fluent to enable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) users to set up, in a relatively short time, complex simulations of virion-laden droplet dispersion for calculating the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection in real life scenarios. The software application, referred to as TU Delft COVID-app, includes the modelling of human expiratory activities, unsteady and turbulent convection, droplet evaporation and thermal coupling. Data describing human expiratory activities have been obtained from selected studies involving measurements of the expelled droplets and the air flow during coughing, sneezing and breathing. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the transient air flow expelled by a person while reciting a speech have been conducted with and without a surgical mask. The instantaneous velocity fields from PIV are used to determine the velocity flow rates used in the numerical simulations, while the average velocity fields are used for validation. Furthermore, the effect of surgical masks and N95 respirators on particle filtration and the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection from a dose-response model have also been implemented in the application. Finally, the work includes a case-study of SARS-CoV-2 infection risk analysis during a conversation across a dining/meeting table that demonstrates the capability of the newly developed application.
KW - Application
KW - COVID-19 simulation
KW - COVID-app
KW - Infection probability
KW - SARS-CoV-2 dispersion
KW - Unsteady speaking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125664890&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154143
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154143
M3 - Article
C2 - 35227716
AN - SCOPUS:85125664890
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 826
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 154143
ER -