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In the present study, the effect of bend angle on pressure drop and flow behavior in a small-diameter corrugated duct is numerically investigated and experimentally validated under a fully developed flow condition. The large eddy simulation, together with the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method, is employed to study the pressure drop, mean flow pattern, and unsteady flow evolution for a corrugated duct with various bend angles. The results show that the pressure drop exhibits a monotonic increase with increasing bend angle. Specifically, as the bend angle increases from $$0^{\circ }$$ to $$90^{\circ }$$ , the pressure drop of the corrugated duct experiences a striking increase of about 43%. Accordingly, a larger bend angle is found to induce the occurrence of stronger Dean cells or larger swirl intensity downstream the duct bend. Meanwhile, as for larger bend angles, the main turbulent properties of the Dean cells could be, to some extent, governed by the first few POD modes, which appear to be featured with one or a few large-scale vortices. Generally, the larger bend angle causes stronger swirl intensity and wave-like structures, thus rendering severer pressure drop or larger pressure loss coefficient in the corrugated duct.

The air distribution system in an airliner plays a key role in maintaining a comfortable and healthy environment in the aircraft cabin. To evaluate the performance of a novel displacement ventilation (DV) system and a traditional mixing ventilation (MV) system in an airliner cabin, this study conducted experiments and simulations in a seven-row cabin mockup. This investigation used ultrasonic anemometers and T-thermocouples to measure the air velocity, temperature and distribution of 1 μm and 5 μm particles. Simulation verifications were performed for these operating conditions, and additional scenarios with different occurrence source locations were also simulated. This study combined the Wells-Riley equation with a real case based on a COVID-19 outbreak among passengers on a long-distance bus to obtain the COVID-19 quanta value. Through an evaluation of the airflow organization, thermal comfort, and risk of COVID-19 infection, the two ventilation systems were compared. This investigation found that polydisperse particles should be used to calculate the risk of infection in airliner cabins. In addition, at the beginning of the pandemic, the infection risk with DV was lower than that with MV. In the middle and late stages of the epidemic, the infection risk with MV can be reduced when passengers wear masks, leading to an infection risk approximately equal to that of DV.

As most airplanes do not have HEPA filters for filtering outside air, particulate matter in the outdoor air can deposit on the environmental control systems (ECS) of the airplanes. The particles that accumulate on the various surfaces of the ECS components can affect their thermal performance and may lead to component failures. This study experimentally and numerically investigated the particle deposition on a heat exchanger and a turbocharger, which are key components of ECS with complex geometry. A test rig was built to obtain the monodisperse particle deposition fractions by measuring the particle concentration upstream and downstream of the components with the weighing method. The tested particles ranged from 1 to 8 μm in diameter. Different Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) models, together with a modified Lagrangian method, were used to predict the total particle deposition fractions in the tested components. The computed particle deposition was compared with the experimental data. The results showed that the RNG k-e model with near-wall correction provided the most accurate prediction of the particle deposition fraction on the heat exchanger and turbocharger. The particle deposition fraction increased significantly with the particle size. CFD simulation provided detailed information about the particle deposition distribution inside the heat exchanger and turbocharger. The location and number of deposited particles depended mainly on the particle size and air velocity. This investigation identified a suitable tool for studying particle deposition in the ECS of commercial airplanes.

Porous insulation materials may acquire moisture, and the moisture content must be accurately measured for appropriate maintenance of the materials. Current thermal methods for measuring moisture are applicable only to an infinite test domain. This paper used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to investigate the effects of a finite test domain and the associated boundary heat loss on moisture measurement. Insulation material of various thicknesses, bounded by two solid plates, was modeled. The convective heat loss to the air from both solid plates was considered. The over-measured moisture content due to a finite geometric domain was regressed into formulas, by means of which the excessive amount could subsequently be deduced. The corrected moisture content was then compared with that obtained by gravimetric weighing using a digital precision balance. The results show that significant over-measurement of moisture content can occur for the tested insulation material with a thickness less than 4.5 cm. The remedial strategy is quite effective and can provide moisture content results that are close to the gravimetric values.

Identifying the exact transmission route(s) of infectious diseases in indoor environments is a crucial step in developing effective intervention strategies. In this study, we proposed a comparative analysis approach and built a model to simulate outbreaks of 3 different in‐flight infections in a similar cabin environment, that is, influenza A H1N1, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (CoV), and norovirus. The simulation results seemed to suggest that the close contact route was probably the most significant route (contributes 70%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 67%‐72%) in the in‐flight transmission of influenza A H1N1 transmission; as a result, passengers within 2 rows of the index case had a significantly higher infection risk than others in the outbreak (relative risk [RR]: 13.4, 95% CI: 1.5‐121.2, P = .019). For SARS CoV, the airborne, close contact, and fomite routes contributed 21% (95% CI: 19%‐23%), 29% (95% CI: 27%‐31%), and 50% (95% CI: 48%‐53%), respectively. For norovirus, the simulation results suggested that the fomite route played the dominant role (contributes 85%, 95% CI: 83%‐87%) in most cases; as a result, passengers in aisle seats had a significantly higher infection risk than others (RR: 9.5, 95% CI: 1.2‐77.4, P = .022). This work highlighted a method for using observed outbreak data to analyze the roles of different infection transmission routes.

In airliner cabins, mixing ventilation systems with gaspers are not efficient in controlling contaminant transport. To improve the cabin environment, this investigation proposed an innovative ventilation system that would reduce contaminant transport and maintain thermal comfort. We manufactured and installed the proposed ventilation system in an occupied seven-row, single-aisle aircraft cabin mockup. Air velocity, air temperature, and contaminant distribution in the cabin mockup were obtained by experimental measurements. The investigation used the experimental data to validate the results of CFD simulation. The validated CFD program was then used to study the impact of the locations and number of exhausts on contaminant removal and thermal comfort in a one-row section of a fully occupied Boeing-737 cabin. Although the diffusers in the proposed system were close to the passengers' legs, the air velocity magnitude was acceptable in the lower part of the cabin and the leg area. The proposed system provided an acceptable thermal environment in the cabin, although passengers could feel cold when placing their legs directly in front of the diffusers. The four-exhaust configuration of the new ventilation system was the best, and it decreased the average exposure in the cabin by 57% and 53%, respectively, when compared with the mixing and displacement ventilation systems., Highlights • An innovative ventilation system for airliner cabins was proposed. • The system was manufactured and installed in an aircraft cabin mockup. • The system was optimized and assessed.

Identifying the exact transmission route(s) of infectious diseases in indoor environments is a crucial step in developing effective intervention strategies. In this study, we proposed a comparative analysis approach and built a model to simulate outbreaks of 3 different in-flight infections in a similar cabin environment, that is, influenza A H1N1, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (CoV), and norovirus. The simulation results seemed to suggest that the close contact route was probably the most significant route (contributes 70%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 67%-72%) in the in-flight transmission of influenza A H1N1 transmission; as a result, passengers within 2 rows of the index case had a significantly higher infection risk than others in the outbreak (relative risk [RR]: 13.4, 95% CI: 1.5-121.2, P = .019). For SARS CoV, the airborne, close contact, and fomite routes contributed 21% (95% CI: 19%-23%), 29% (95% CI: 27%-31%), and 50% (95% CI: 48%-53%), respectively. For norovirus, the simulation results suggested that the fomite route played the dominant role (contributes 85%, 95% CI: 83%-87%) in most cases; as a result, passengers in aisle seats had a significantly higher infection risk than others (RR: 9.5, 95% CI: 1.2-77.4, P = .022). This work highlighted a method for using observed outbreak data to analyze the roles of different infection transmission routes.

Severe air pollution and low on-time performance of commercial flights in China could increase particle deposition in the environmental control systems (ECSs) of commercial airliners. The particles deposited in the ECSs could negatively affect the performance of the airplanes. In addition, particles that penetrate into the aircraft cabin could adversely impact the health of passengers and crew members. This investigation conducted simultaneous measurements of particle mass concentration and size distribution inside and outside the cabin during 64 commercial flights of Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 aircraft departing from or arriving at Tianjin Airport in China. The results showed that the PM2.5 mass concentration deposition in the ECSs of these airplanes ranged from 50% to 90%, which was much higher than that measured in an airplane with a ground air-conditioning unit. The average deposition rates of particles with diameters of 0.5–1 μm, 1–2 μm, 2–5 μm, 5–10 μm, and >10 μm were 89 ± 8%, 85 ± 13%, 80 ± 13%, 73 ± 15%, and 80 ± 14%, respectively. The in-flight measurement results indicated that the particle concentration in the breathing zone was higher than that in the air-supply zone, which implies a significant contribution by particles in the interior of the cabin. Such particles come from human emissions or particle resuspension from interior surfaces.

It is not clear whether turning on the gaspers in the cabins of commercial airliners actually improves the air quality. To answer this question, this study first developed a hybrid turbulence model which was suitable for predicting the air distribution in an aircraft cabin with gaspers turned on. Next, the investigation validated the model using two sets of experimental data from a cabin mockup and an actual airplane. This study then used the validated model to systematically investigate the impact of gaspers on cabin air quality in a seven-row section of the fully-occupied, economy-class cabin of Boeing 767 and 737 airplanes. The CFD calculations formed a database consisting of 9660 data points that provide information about SARS infection risk. It was found that the distribution of opened gaspers can influence the infection risk for passengers. Even though the gasper supplies clean air, it is possible for it to have a negative impact on the passengers' health. Statistically speaking, the overall effect of turning on the gaspers on the mean infection risk for the general population was neutral., Highlights • A hybrid turbulence model for an aircraft cabin with gaspers on was proposed. • The model's ability to predict the air and contaminant distribution was validated. • The impact of gaspers on cabin air quality was investigated.

The bacteria and fungi captured on heat insulating materials or air filter media in the ventilation system in civil flights may reentrant into the indoor air which poses a threat to passengers’ health. The E. coli and B. subtilis bacteria survival rates on the heat insulating blankets typically used as padding materials inside the aircraft walls under the mimicked environmental condition were studied. Then the antibacterial performance of positively charged electret and chitosan modified filter media which can be used in the ventilation systems against E. coli bacteria was investigated. Our results showed that the E. coli survival rate deceased to less than 0.2% and that of the B. subtilis decreased to less than 2.1% of the control samples on the hydrophilic and hydrophobic blankets under the mimic conditions after one flight cycle. The survival rate of E. coli on the positively charged electret filter media decreased to less than 30% compared to the uncharged filter media after six hours due to the disruption of their metabolic balance by the positive charges on the fibers surface. Moreover, the E. coli survival rate on the pure nylon, nylon/chitosan and chitosan dipped nylon-6 nanofibrous filter media decreased to 8.4%, 7.1% and 2.8% after 120 min, respectively. This study sheds light on fabrication of the eco-friendly antibacterial filter materials for the ventilation systems., Building and Environment, 180, ISSN:0360-1323

The current thermal environments in airliner cabins may not provide satisfactory comfort levels, and the design of these environments should be improved. This study aimed to design a desirable thermal environment for a single-aisle airliner cabin and used the CFD-based adjoint method to find the optimal design variables of air supply locations, size, and parameters. The design variables are used as the boundary conditions for solving the Navier–Stokes equations. By setting the occupant region as the design domain with a minimal predicted mean vote for thermal comfort, this study aimed to determine the corresponding air supply conditions for mixing and displacement ventilation systems under summer and winter conditions. The results show that it is possible to find the optimal air supply conditions in fewer than 10 design cycles if the initial conditions for design variables are provided within a reasonable range. This design method has a high computing efficiency as it takes one hour for a design cycle using a 16-core cluster. In addition, the results show that a displacement ventilation system provides a better thermal comfort level than a mixing ventilation system.

Correctly predicting transient particle transport in indoor environments is crucial to improving the design of ventilation systems and reducing the risk of acquiring airborne infectious diseases. Recently, a new model was developed on the basis of Markov chain frame for quickly predicting transient particle transport indoors. To evaluate this Markov chain model, this study compared it with the traditional Eulerian and Lagrangian models in terms of performance, computing cost, and robustness. Four cases of particle transport, three of which included experimental data, were used for this comparison. The Markov chain model was able to predict transient particle transport indoors with similar accuracy to the Eulerian and Lagrangian models. Furthermore, when the same time step size (Courant number ≤1) and grid number were used for all three models, the Markov chain model had the highest calculation speed. The Eulerian model was faster than the Lagrangian model unless a super-fine grid was used. This investigat...

Obtaining information about particle dispersion in a room is crucial in reducing the risk of infectious disease transmission among occupants. This study developed a Markov chain model for quickly obtaining the information on the basis of a steady-state flow field calculated by computational fluid dynamics. When solving the particle transport equations, the Markov chain model does not require iterations in each time step, and thus it can significantly reduce the computing cost. This study used two sets of experimental data for transient particle transport to validate the model. In general, the trends in the particle concentration distributions predicted by the Markov chain model agreed reasonably well with the experimental data. This investigation also applied the model to the calculation of person-to-person particle transport in a ventilated room. The Markov chain model produced similar results to those of the Lagrangian and Eulerian models, while the speed of calculation increased by 8.0 and 6.3 times, respectively, in comparison to the latter two models., Highlights • A Markov chain model was developed for predicting transient particle transport. • The Markov chain model does not require iterations in each time step. • The Markov chain model can significantly reduce the computing cost. • The Markov chain model can predict particle transport with reasonable accuracy.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the Lagrangian method has been widely used in predicting transient particle transport in indoor environments. The Lagrangian method calculates the trajectories of individual particles on the basis of Newton's law. Statistically speaking, a large number of particles are needed in the calculations in order to ensure accuracy. Traditionally, modelers have conducted an independence test in order to find a reasonable value for this particle number. However, the unguided process of an independence test can be highly time-consuming when no simple method is available for estimating the necessary particle number. Therefore, this investigation developed a method for estimating the necessary particle number in the Lagrangian method. Furthermore, the computing cost of the Lagrangian method is positively associated with the particle number. If this number is too large, the computing cost may not be affordable. Thus, this study proposed the superimposition and time-averaging meth...

Indoor air distributions, such as the distributions of air temperature, air velocity, and contaminant concentrations, are very important to occupants' health and comfort in enclosed spaces. When point data is collected for interpolation to form field distributions, the sampling locations (the locations of the point sensors) have a significant effect on time invested, labor costs and measuring accuracy on field interpolation. This investigation compared two different sampling methods: the grid method and the gradient-based method, for determining sampling locations. The two methods were applied to obtain point air parameter data in an office room and in a section of an economy-class aircraft cabin. The point data obtained was then interpolated to form field distributions by the ordinary Kriging method. Our error analysis shows that the gradient-based sampling method has 32.6% smaller error of interpolation than the grid sampling method. We acquired the function between the interpolation errors and the sampling size (the number of sampling points). According to the function, the sampling size has an optimal value and the maximum sampling size can be determined by the sensor and system errors. This study recommends the gradient-based sampling method for measuring indoor air distributions.

Surfaces and objects surround us, and touching them is integral to everyday life. Pathogen contaminated surfaces (fomites) are known to transmit diseases. However, little is known about the ways and speed at which surfaces become contaminated. We found that under certain conditions, the number of contaminated surfaces grows logistically, corresponding to possible rapid transmission of infection. In such a surface network, pathogen can be transmitted great distances quickly—as far as people move. We found that the surface contamination network in aircraft cabins exhibits a community structure, with small communities connected by the aisle seatback surfaces and toilets, which are high-touch surfaces. In less than two to three hours, most high-touch surfaces in the cabin are contaminated, and within five to six hours nearly all touchable surfaces are contaminated. During short haul flight, aisle passengers have higher fomite exposure. This closely matches the spatial infection pattern of one reported inflight norovirus outbreaks. Our model is generally applicable to other crowded settings. The commonly repeated advice to “wash hands frequently” may be replaced in future by more strategic advice such as “clean surfaces right now”, or advice based on who should wash their hands, and when.

It has long been realized that condensation in a chamber prefilled with condensable vapor leads to chamber depressurization, and the condensation rate can be cooling controlled. While the final state can be reasonably estimated based on the thermodynamic equilibrium, the dynamic process of depressurization is not only transient but also in thermal non-equilibrium. This transient and non-equilibrium characteristics, mainly governed by the rate of condensation, has not been satisfactorily modeled, which is due to the complicated coupling mechanisms of heat and mass transfer during the condensation, the presence of non-condensable gas (NCG) within vapor, as well as the complex geometry and properties of chamber and cooling device involved. In this paper, we have conducted an experimental study on depressurization by steam condensation onto an internal cooling coil in a steam-prefilled closed chamber. To reveal various parametric effects on the depressurization process, a parametric model consisting of a set of coupled ordinary differential equations has been established, with some simplified assumptions including lumped heat capacity sub-models for chamber walls, cooling coils and the gas phase. To further explore the thermal non-equilibrium characteristics during the process, a full-field and transient simulation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is also conducted using FLUENT with user-defined function (UDF) on boundary of condensation. Both parametric and CFD models consider the existence of NCG that is pre-mixed with the vapor as impurity. By comparison with the experimental measurements, both models reasonably predict the dynamic and asymptotic characteristics of depressurization with time. The CFD simulation indicates an almost instant equilibrium in pressure within the chamber and yet non-equilibrium in temperature with noticeable temperature gradients over the gas phase. The simplified parametric model gives quick predictions of some major parametric effects (e.g., vapor purity, coolant flow rate, and vessel volume) on the rate of depressurization. The detailed mechanistic understanding, gained from proposed models, provides insights essential to the optimized design and operation of the depressurization by cooling-controlled condensation.

Airborne particles are an important type of air pollutants in aircraft cabin. Finding sources of particles is conducive to taking appropriate measures to remove them. In this study, measurements of concentration and size distribution of particles larger than 0.3 μm (PM>0.3) were made on nine short haul flights from September 2012 to March 2013. Particle counts in supply air and breathing zone air were both obtained. Results indicate that the number concentrations of particles ranged from 3.6 × 102 counts L−1 to 1.2 × 105 counts L−1 in supply air and breathing zone air, and they first decreased and then increased in general during the flight duration. Peaks of particle concentration were found at climbing, descending, and cruising phases in several flights. Percentages of particle concentration in breathing zone contributed by the bleed air (originated from outside) and cabin interior sources were calculated. The bleed air ratios, outside airflow rates and total airflow rates were calculated by using carbon dioxide as a ventilation tracer in five of the nine flights. The calculated results indicate that PM>0.3 in breathing zone mainly came from unfiltered bleed air, especially for particle sizes from 0.3 to 2.0 μm. And for particles larger than 2.0 μm, contributions from the bleed air and cabin interior were both important. The results would be useful for developing better cabin air quality control strategies.

The environment of the aircraft cabin greatly influences the comfort and health of passengers and crew members. Contaminant transport has a strong effect on disease spreading in the cabin environment. To obtain the complex cabin contaminant distribution fields accurately and completely, which is also essential to provide solid and precise data for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model validation, this paper aimed to investigate and improve the method for simultaneous particle and gaseous contaminant fields measurement. The experiment was conducted in a functional MD-82 aircraft. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) was used as tracer gas, and Di-Ethyl-Hexyl-Sebacat (DEHS) was used as particulate contaminant. The whole measurement was completed in a part of the economy-class cabin without heating manikins or occupied with heating manikins. The experimental method, in terms of pollutant source setting, sampling points and schedule, was investigated. Statistical analysis showed that appropriately modified sampling grid was able to provide reasonable data. A small difference in the source locations can lead to a significant difference in cabin contaminant fields. And the relationship between gaseous and particulate pollutant transport was also discussed through tracking behavior analysis., Highlights • Investigated methods for contaminants distribution measurement in a MD-82 aircraft. • Compared the effect of different sampling grids, source styles. • Analyzed the tracking behavior of studied particles, and compared with SF6.

Constrained by the experimental conditions, field fire tests at high-altitude areas can only examine a limited number of low pressure environments. To explore more low pressure environments, an altitude chamber of size 3 × 2 × 2 m has been built to simulate static low pressure environments in the range from 101 kPa to 30 kPa, as well as dynamic pressure environments depressurized from 101 kPa to 30 kPa at different descent rates. Then by aid of the altitude chamber, low-pressure fires under both static and dynamic pressures were tested. In the static fire tests, four static pressures, i.e. 101 kPa, 75 kPa, 64 kPa and 40 kPa were examined through automatically adjusting the pumping speed to maintain a fixed static pressure in the altitude chamber. In the dynamic fire tests, depressurization processes with three descent rates from 101 kPa to 30 kPa were examined in the altitude chamber through pumping gas and simultaneously replenishing air at the rates of 0, 15 and 20 Nm3/h. The tested pool fire sizes were 6-cm-diameter and 10-cm-diameter round pans filled with a 2-cm-height layer of 99% pure liquid n-Heptane, and in the static tests cold water were laid beneath the fuel layer in order to cool the fuel. Multi-point axial flame temperature, radiative heat flux, mass burning rate, chamber pressure and hi-speed flame videos etc. were measured for each test. Some special phenomena were observed from the hi-speed flame videos for the liquid pool fires during the depressurization, e.g. the flame shifted from turbulent to laminar and its base turned blue as pressure drops, then at low enough pressure a polyhedral flame appeared and swirled in the pan. The flame temperature and radiative heat flux were analyzed in correlation with mass burning rate and pressure to reveal the pressure effect on fire behavior.

It is important to accurately model person-to-person particle transport in mechanical ventilation spaces to create and maintain a healthy indoor environment. The present study introduces a hybrid DES-Lagrangian and RANS-Eulerian model for simulating transient particle transport in enclosed environments; this hybrid model can ensure the accuracy and reduce the computing cost. Our study estimated two key time constants for the model that are important parameters for reducing the computing costs. The two time constants estimated were verified by airflow data from both an office and an aircraft cabin case. This study also conducted experiments in the first-class cabin of an MD-82 commercial airliner with heated manikins to validate the hybrid model. A pulse particle source was applied at the mouth of an index manikin to simulate a cough. The particle concentrations versus time were measured at the breathing zone of the other manikins. The trend of particle concentrations versus time predicted by the hybrid model agrees with the experimental data. Therefore, the proposed hybrid model can be used for investigating transient particle transport in enclosed environments., Highlights ► A hybrid model was proposed for modeling transient particle transport indoors. ► Two key time constants for the hybrid model were estimated and verified. ► Experiment was conducted in an MD-82 aircraft cabin to validate the hybrid model.

Flow fields in commercial airliner cabins are crucial for creating a thermally comfortable and healthy cabin environment. Flow fields depend on the thermo-fluid boundary conditions at the diffusers, in addition to the cabin geometry and furnishing. To study the flow fields in cabins, this paper describes a procedure to obtain the cabin geometry, boundary conditions at the diffusers, and flow fields. This investigation used a laser tracking system and reverse engineering to generate a digital model of an MD-82 aircraft cabin. Even though the measuring error by the system was very small, approximations and assumptions were needed to reduce the workload and data size. The geometric model can also be easily used to calculate the space volume. A combination of hot-sphere anemometers (HSA) and ultrasonic anemometers (UA) were applied to obtain the velocity magnitude, velocity direction, and turbulence intensity at the diffusers. The measured results indicate that the flow boundary conditions in a real cabin were rather complex and the velocity magnitude, velocity direction, and turbulence intensity varied significantly from one slot opening to another. UAs were also applied to measure the three-dimensional air velocity at 20 Hz, which could also be used to determine the turbulence intensity. Due to the instability of the flow, it should at least be measured for 4 min to obtain accurate averaged velocity and turbulence information. It was found that the flow fields were of low speed and high turbulence intensity. This study provides high quality data for validating Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models, including cabin geometry, boundary conditions of diffusers, and high-resolution flow field in the first-class cabin of a functional MD-82 commercial airliner.

Accurate prediction of particle deposition in airliner cabins is important for estimating the exposure risk of passengers to infectious diseases. This study developed a Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) model with a modified Lagrangian method. The computer model was validated with experimental data for particle deposition in a cavity with natural convection and with air velocity, air temperature, and particle concentration data from a four-row, twin-aisle cabin mockup. The validation showed that the model performed well for the two cases. Then the model was further used to study particle deposition in the cabin mockup with seven sizes of particles. The particles were assumed to be released from an index passenger due to breathing or talking at zero velocity and due to coughing at a suitable jet velocity. This study can provide quantitative particle deposition distributions for different surfaces and particles removed by cabin ventilation.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) outgassing from newly manufactured baked and unbaked ventilation filters were examined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry following thermodesorption (TD-GC/MS) technique. Filters were tested under both static and dynamic conditions. Under static conditions, the unbaked filter outgassed VOC (0.50 ± 0.18 μg) more than twice as much as the baked filter (0.23 ± 0.15 μg). 2-Propanol and nonanal were the components outgassed from both baked and unbaked filters and 4-piperidinol, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl- was determined to be the main contaminant outgassed from the unbaked filters. Series of tunnel experiments were conducted by passing highly purified dry air through the filters and taking air samples upstream and downstream the filter. Under dynamic test conditions, the baked filter was not significantly distinguishable from the background with a downstream total VOC concentration increase only by 35.3%, which was almost 9 times lower than that of the unbaked filter (294%). 3-hydroxy-4,6-di-t-butyl-2H-pyran-2-one was the main VOC outgassed from the unbaked filter. In addition, a general trend of decreasing VOC outgassing with time from baked and unbaked filters was observed in both static and dynamic tests. It also suggested that baked filter behaved like a sink for certain VOC and unbaked filters from different batches may outgas different VOC. Overall, bake-out was proved to be an effective way of reducing VOC outgassing from ventilation filters.

Airborne disease transmission has always been a topic of wide interests in various fields for decades. Cough is found to be one of the prime sources of airborne diseases as it has a high velocity and a large quantity of droplets. To understand and characterize the flow dynamics of a cough can help the control of airborne disease transmission. This study has measured flow dynamics of coughs with human subjects. The flow rate variation of a cough with time can be represented as a combination of gamma-probability-distribution functions. The variables needed to define the gamma-probability-distribution functions can be represented by some medical parameters. A robust multiple linear regression analysis indicated that these medical parameters can be obtained from the physiological details of a person. However, the jet direction and mouth opening area during a cough seemed not related to the physiological parameters of the human subjects. Combining the flow characteristics reported in this study with appropriate virus and droplet distribution information, the infectious source strength by coughing can be evaluated.

This article demonstrates the possibility of an alternative approach for risk adjustment models. In the proposed model the risk characteristics of the beneficiary's health within the same cohort classified by Self-Organizing Map network are highly homogeneous, whereas the numbers of individuals within each cohort remain sufficient to allow further investigation of the causal effect from clustered data. A comparison of different models by the 10-fold cross-validation reveals that the performance improvement in the proposed integration model is both significant and stable across the estima tion and validation sampling.

To monitor cabin air quality, infectious disease transmission, and intentional airborne contaminant releases in commercial aircraft cabins, it is necessary to place contaminant sensors in the cabins. Such sensors are often expensive, heavy, and bulky, so they cannot be deployed in large quantity. This study used a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program to study how a limited amount of sensors should be placed in an airliner cabin. This investigation first validated the CFD program with the experimental data of an airborne contaminant simulated by a tracer gas, air velocity, and air temperature distribution obtained from a mock-up of a twin-aisle aircraft cabin. Then the validated CFD program was used to study contaminant transport in a nine-row section of a Boeing 767 aircraft cabin with airborne contaminants released under different scenarios. By assuming different contaminant release rates and sensor sensitivities, the optimal sensor location and number were determined. It was found that the best lo...

Air distributions in commercial airliner cabins are crucial for creating a thermally comfortable and healthy cabin environment. This paper reviews the methods used in predicting, designing, and analyzing air distributions in the cabins, among which experimental measurements and numerical simulations are the two popular ones. The experimental measurements have usually been seen as more reliable although they are more expensive and time consuming. Most of the numerical simulations use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) that can provide effectively detailed information. Numerous applications using the two methods can be found in the literature for studying air distributions in aircraft cabins, including investigations on more reliable and accurate models. The review in the paper shows that the studies using both experimental measurements and computer simulations are becoming popular. And it is necessary to use a full-scale test rig to obtain reliable and high quality experimental data. What’s more, the hybrid CFD models are found to be rather promising for simulating air distributions in airliner cabins., Highlights ► The review concerns various methods for studying air distributions in cabins. ► Experimental measurements and numerical simulations are most popular. ► This review compared different experimental methods for measuring the air distributions. ► Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the most popular numerical method. ► The trend in studying air distributions is to use both experimental and numerical methods.

UNLABELLED The exhaled air of infected humans is one of the prime sources of contagious viruses. The exhaled air comes from respiratory events such as the coughing, sneezing, breathing and talking. Accurate information on the thermo-fluid characteristics of the exhaled airflow can be important for prediction of infectious disease transmission. The present study developed a source model to provide the thermo-fluid conditions of the exhaled air from the breathing and talking processes. The source model is a set of equations obtained from the measurements of the flow rate, flow direction, and area of mouth/nose opening with human subjects. It was found that the exhaled flow rate over time can be represented as a sinusoidal function for breathing and a constant for talking. The flow rates can be calculated by physiological parameters of a subject. The direction of the exhalation jet did not vary much between subjects and the area of mouth/nose opening could be regarded as a constant. Though the mouth/nose opening size varied among subjects, they were not correlated with the physiological parameters of the subjects. If combined with appropriate virus and droplet distribution information, the model can be used to describe the disease source due to breathing and talking. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Accurate prediction of airborne disease transmission, and the infection prone zones, can aid in identifying and implementing the control strategies. With the recent advancements, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become a powerful tool in predicting the disease transmission. Accurate prediction of the transmission by these CFD simulations requires information on sources and sinks of infectious viruses and models for dispersion of these viruses. The exhaled air of an infected human is one of the prime sources of disease viruses. In the present study, measurements of the flow were conducted on human subjects to develop models for the flow boundary conditions for the exhalation and inhalation during breathing and talking.