Systematic study of person-to-person contaminant transport in mechanically ventilated spaces (RP-1458)

It is essential to investigate person-to-person contaminant transport in mechanically ventilated spaces to improve air distribution design and reduce the infection risk from airborne infectious diseases. This article provides a systematic study of the effects of ventilation mode, ventilation rate, and person-to-person distance on person-to-person contaminant transport. This study first collected available cases of person-to-person contaminant transport from the literature to create a database. Then this investigation identified the limitations of the existing data and added a number of cases to complete the database. The additional cases were generated by using a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS)-Eulerian model that was validated by experimental data from an occupied office with under-floor air-distribution (UFAD) systems. The database shows that the overall performance of displacement ventilation and the UFAD systems was better than that of mixing ventilation. A higher ventilation rate was beneficial in reducing person-to-person contaminant transport to some extent. Person-to-person contaminant exposure increased rapidly with a decrease in person-to-person distance when the distance was smaller than 1.1 m. Generally speaking, person-to-person distance is an important parameter when compared with ventilation mode and ventilation rate.