Influence of indoor environmental conditions on airborne transmission and lifetime of sneeze droplets in a confined space: a way to reduce COVID-19 spread.

ABSTRACT: Effects of indoor temperature (T_∞) and relative humidity (RH_∞) on the airborne transmission of sneeze droplets in a confined space were studied over the T_∞ range of 15-30 °C and RH_∞ of 22-62%. In addition, a theoretical evaporation model was used to estimate the droplet lifetime based on experimental data. The results showed that the body mass index (BMI) of the participants played an important role in the sneezing jet velocity, while the impact of the BMI and gender of participants was insignificant on the size distribution of droplets. At a critical relative humidity RH_∞,crit of 46%, the sneezing jet velocity and droplet lifetime were roughly independent of T_∞. At RH_∞ < RH_∞,crit, the sneezing jet velo

SUBMITTER: Bahramian A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9867553 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature