Evaluation of different computational methods for numerical simulation of aerosol distribution in the operating room

Abstract

In traditional operating rooms, controlling the concentration of aerosol particles has been necessary to ensure surgical safety. The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasized the need for protecting medical staff in operating rooms, thereby increasing the focus on aerosol concentrations. Accurate simulation calculations of aerosol concentration and distribution play a crucial role in evaluating these concentrations and the associated risk of exposure. This study aims to assess the distribution of aerosols within an operating room by employing four different calculation methods and comparing them with experimental data. These methods included two turbulence models - Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES)-combined with two different aerosol transmission calculation models -Lagrangian and Eulerian. The findings indicate that the LES model yields a more accurate representation of the flow field, whereas no significant differences were observed among the four methods when it came to calculating aerosol concentrations. However, Eulerian-based methods exhibited superior continuity in the results. The errors of the four methods were greater than 50 % at Class II sampling locations and less than 50 % at Class III sampling locations. Consequently, this study serves as a scientific reference for selecting appropriate numerical simulation methods to predict aerosol concentration and distribution in operating rooms.