Coughed droplets dispersion pattern in two-bed ward under different heating strategies

Abstract

This study aims to compare the dispersion of coughed droplets with different diameters under two heating strategies of hospital ward in winter. An experimentally verified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method has been used to simulate the evaporation and diffusion of droplets with five different diameters in a two-bed ward with air conditioning strategy (MV) and floor radiant heating strategy (FH). Results show that in the boundary of the human body, indoor air flow, human expiratory airflow and thermal plume play an important role in the dispersion of coughed droplets. Small and medium-sized droplets suspension in the ward for a longer time, while large droplets deposit rapidly. The removal ratio of 50 μm droplets under MV strategies is the highest. The 100 μm droplets in the two heating strategies are completely removed within 30 s. There is an obvious difference of droplets deposition ratio on each surface in the ward.

Keywords

• Coughed droplets
• Temporal and spatial dispersion characteristics
• Radiant floor heating
• Central air-conditioning
• Mixing ventilation
• Two-bed ward