Tan, Huiyi and Othman, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan and Kek, Hong Yee and Chong, Wen Tong and Wong, Syie Luing and Ern, Garry Kuan Pei and Mong, Guo Ren and Ho, Wai Shin and Leng, Pau Chung and Mat, Mohamad Nur Hidayat and Wong, Kengyinn (2023) Would sneezing increase the risk of passengers contracting airborne infection? A validated numerical assessment in a public elevator. Energy and Buildings, 297. ISSN 0378-7788, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113439.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
An elevator is a machine that vertically transports people between different levels of a building. It is a typical confined space for contracting airborne diseases, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of this study is to examine the dispersion of sneeze particles on the infection risk among passengers in a public elevator. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model representing an elevator was constructed. A CFD model was verified and validated based on the onsite measurement data. Renormalization Group (RNG) k-& epsilon; turbulence model developed based on the Eulerian tracking approach was used to simulate the airflow, while the discrete phase model (DPM) developed based on the Lagrangian tracking approach was used to simulate the particle dispersion during sneezing process. Simulation results show that particle concentration increased by 10 % and 2 % in case 2 (ceiling-mounted air supply diffuser and one low-level exhaust outlet) and case 3 (ceiling-mounted air supply diffuser and exhaust outlet), respectively. In contrast, case 4 shows that integration of the ceilingmounted air supply diffuser with two-sided low-level exhaust outlet) minimized the particle adherence by 34 % on the manikin, from the time of 0 s - 5 s. Thus, ventilation strategy demonstrated in case 4 is sufficient to minimize particle dispersion and has a particle reduction rate of 0.006 kg/m3 & BULL; s. Although case 1 (ceilingmounted air supply diffuser and ceiling-mounted exhaust outlet) could prevent the particles trapped on the manikin from 0 s to 5 s, it does not perform well from the time of 5 s - 10 s.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Funders: | Universiti Teknologi Malaysia under UTM Zamalah Grant (Q. J130000.4551.00 N04) |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Ventilation strategy; Healthcare-associated infection; Public elevator; Infectious particle dispersion; COVID-19 |
| Subjects: | T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Engineering > Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| Depositing User: | Ms. Juhaida Abd Rahim |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2025 07:36 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Aug 2025 07:36 |
| URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/50685 |
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