Unravelling the dynamics of human movements on airflow and bioaerosol dispersion within an isolation room: A numerical study

Effective ventilation strategy maintains a healthy indoor environment and prevents respiratory infections. Therefore, it is essential to understand the interaction of airflow and the occupants on contaminant dispersion, to determine the ultimate ventilation strategy. However, some indoor research advocate ventilation solutions by considering only movement of a single human while majority ignore it entirely. Moreover, the impact of human motion on indoor contaminant dispersion is unclear. To address these shortcomings, this study did numerical simulations to examine the effects of two humans’ movement on dispersion of bioaerosols in an isolation room. The results show that human motion disrupts airflow in microenvironment of moving body. However, its impact is not substantial to disturb the bioaerosol dispersion within the room. The study demonstrates that a well-designed ventilation strategy for source control can effectively mitigate the potential influence of human movement and serve as a primary mechanism for preventing the transmission of infections.