Spreading of SARS-CoV-2-laden aerosol particles in closed patient rooms

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Rüdiger Schwarze
• Subject Area: Fluid Mechanics
• Term: from 2021 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 468860716

The project investigates the airborne transport and spread of respiratory aerosol droplets loaded with SARS-CoV-2 viruses in closed patient rooms with and without high-volume air conditioning (HVAC) system. It is based on the hypothesis, that the structure of the air flow field in a patient room has a strong impact on the spread of aerosols and viruses. In detail, it will be examined, how the viral load in the aerosolized droplets correlates with the viral load in oral fluid samples from COVID-19 patients and how these correlations are influenced by the room climatic conditions, in particular the air flow field structure, humidity and the air exchange rate, the distance from and the behavior of the patients (breathing, speaking, singing, but not coughing or sneezing).Large-scale, long-term numerical simulations of the dispersed two-phase flow of aerosol droplets seeded with virus particles and the turbulent air flow in the patient room are performed. The aerosol droplets and virus particles are evaluated at selected monitoring points in the air flow field. Numerical data is compared with corresponding information from a patient study in order to identify important correlations for the airborne transport of virus particles.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants