Ventilation efficiency in road vehicles and probability of respiratory infection

Abstract

This study experimentally measured the ventilation efficiency in road vehicles. Two air circulation methods, air conditioning and opening windows, were considered and their ventilation efficiencies were measured for a sedan and a cutaway bus. The ventilation efficiencies have been evaluated by measuring the aerosol concentration parameter at different locations inside the vehicle. For both vehicles, any of the ventilation scenarios significantly increased the air exchange rate. The best performance was shown when all windows were open in a moving vehicle. As an illustration of using the obtained measurements, respiratory infection probability was calculated using the Wells-Riley model. Any of the ventilation cases significantly decreased the infection risk. The ventilation efficiency and infection probability were highly dependent on the air circulation method and vehicle type.

Keywords

• Air circulation
• Ventilation efficiency
• Public transportation
• Infection probability
• Airborne transmissible disease
• COVID-19