Numerical Simulation of Coughed Droplets in the Air-Conditioning Room

The public pay close attention to infectious disease transmission in the indoor environments since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory infectious diseases. This paper studies the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of coughed droplets with the size of 10 μm in the air-conditioning room of two ventilation patterns, specifically mixing ventilation (MV) and displacement ventilation (DV). There are two people standing face to face with a distance of 0.5m, 0.75m and 1m. RNG k-ɛ turbulent model is used to simulate indoor airflow. The diffusion, gravitational settling and deposition mechanism of coughed droplets matter are simulated by using Lagrangian method. The simulation results indicate that the temperature is uniform in MV, while it is not in DV. DV is easier to discharge the coughed droplets and reduce infection rates. The closer distance between human bodies can increase infection rates.