Study of Ventilation Strategies in a Passenger Aircraft Cabin Using Numerical Simulation
S. M. Abdul Khader,
John Valerian Corda,
Kevin Amith Mathias,
Gowrava Shenoy,
Kamarul Arifin bin Ahmad,
Augustine V. Barboza,
Sevagur Ganesh Kamath,
Mohammad Zuber
Affiliations
S. M. Abdul Khader
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
John Valerian Corda
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Moodlakatte Institute of Technology, Kundapura 576201, Karnataka, India
Kevin Amith Mathias
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Gowrava Shenoy
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Kamarul Arifin bin Ahmad
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Fakulti of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43300, Malaysia
Augustine V. Barboza
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Sevagur Ganesh Kamath
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Mohammad Zuber
Department of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Aircraft cabins have high occupant densities and may introduce the risk of COVID-19 contamination. In this study, a segment of a Boeing 767 aircraft cabin with a mixing type of air distribution system was investigated for COVID-19 deposition. A section of a Boeing 737-300 cabin, featuring four rows with 28 box-shaped mannequins, was used for simulation. Conditioned air entered through ceiling inlets and exited near the floor, simulating a mixed air distribution system. Cough droplets were modeled using the Discrete Phase Model from two locations: the centre seat in the second row and the window seat in the fourth row. These droplets had a mean diameter of 90 µm, an exhalation velocity of 11.5 m/s and a flow rate of 8.5 L/s. A high-quality polyhedral mesh of about 7.5 million elements was created, with a skewness of 0.65 and an orthogonality of 0.3. The SIMPLE algorithm and a second-order upwind finite volume method were used to model airflow and droplet dynamics. It was found that the ceiling accounted for the maximum concentration followed by the seats. The concentration of deposits was almost 50% more when the source was at window as compared to the centre seat. The Covid particles resided for longer duration when the source was at the centre of the cabin than when it was located near the widow.
