Effects of recirculation and air change per hour on COVID-19 transmission in indoor settings: A CFD study with varying HVAC parameters

Abstract

COVID-19 has already claimed over 7 million lives and has infected over 775 million people globally [1]. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, spreads primarily through droplets from infected people's airways, rendering Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems critical in controlling infection risk levels in the indoor environment. To understand the dynamics of exhaled droplets and aerosols and the percentage of particles that are inhaled, escaped, recirculated, or trapped on different surfaces for a variety of environmental settings, we have presented our findings from the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling to investigate the impact of changing HVAC parameters in this paper. When combined with the spatial and temporal distribution of droplets, this method can be used to assess the potential risk and strengthen resilience. This finding demonstrates the viability and usefulness of CFD for modeling the distribution and dynamics of droplets and aerosols in confined environments. Our study demonstrates that raising the Air Change per Hour (ACH) from 2 to 8 reduces the risk of particle inhalation by nearly 70 %. Additionally, limiting the amount of air recirculation or increasing the amount of fresh air helps to reduce the number of airborne particles in an indoor space. To reduce the potential for respiratory droplet-related transmission and to provide relevant recommendations to the appropriate authority, the same computational approach could be applied to a wide range of ventilated indoor environments such as public buses, restaurants, exhibitions, and theaters.