Abstract
The risk of cross-infection is high when the susceptible persons are exposed to the pathogen-laden droplets or droplet nuclei exhaled by infectors. This study proposes a jet integral model to predict the dispersion of exhaled contaminants, evaluating the exposure risk and determining a threshold distance to identify the direct and indirect exposures in both thermally uniform and stratified environments. The results show that the maximum concentration of contaminants exhaled by a bed-lying infector clearly decreases in a short distance (<1.8 m) in a uniform environment, while it maintains high values in a long distance in a stratified environment. The lock-up phenomenon largely weakens the decay of the concentration. The direct exposure of the receiver is determined primarily by the impact scope of the exhaled airflow, while the indirect exposure is mainly related to the ventilation rate and air distribution in the room. In particular, the distance of direct exposure is the longest (approximately 2 m) when the receiver's breathing height is at the lock-up layer in a stratified environment. Our study could be useful for developing effective prevention measures to control cross-infection in the initial stage of design of indoor layouts and ventilation systems.
Originalsprog | Engelsk |
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Tidsskrift | Indoor Air |
Vol/bind | 29 |
Udgave nummer | 4 |
Sider (fra-til) | 591-603 |
Antal sider | 13 |
ISSN | 0905-6947 |
DOI | |
Status | Udgivet - jul. 2019 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51778128), the Scientific Research Foundation of Graduate School of Southeast University (No. YBJJ1806), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2242019K41024).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.