Mitigating COVID-19 infection disease transmission in indoor environment using physical barriers

Chen Ren; Chang Xi; Junqi Wang; Zhuangbo Feng; Fuzhan Nasiri; Shi-Jie Cao; Fariborz Haghighat

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2021.103175

Mitigating COVID-19 infection disease transmission in indoor environment using physical barriers

Sustain Cities Soc. 2021 Nov:74:103175. doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103175. Epub 2021 Jul 14.

Authors

Chen Ren¹, Chang Xi¹, Junqi Wang¹, Zhuangbo Feng¹, Fuzhan Nasiri², Shi-Jie Cao^{1

3}, Fariborz Haghighat^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Architecture, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, 210096, China.
² Energy and Environment Group, Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada.
³ Global Centre for Clean Air Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

Abstract

During the normalized phase of COVID-19, droplets or aerosol particles produced by infected personnel are considered as the potential source of infection with uncertain exposure risk. As such, in densely populated open spaces, it is necessary to adopt strategies to mitigate the risk of infection disease transmission while providing sufficient ventilation air. An example of such strategies is use of physical barriers. In this study, the impact of barrier heights on the spread of aerosol particles is investigated in an open office environment with the well-designed ventilation mode and supply air rate. The risk of infection disease transmission is evaluated using simulation of particle concentration in different locations and subject to a number of source scenarios. It was found that a barrier height of at least 60 cm above the desk surface is needed to effectively prevent the transmission of viruses. For workstations within 4 m from the outlet, a 70 cm height is considered, and with a proper ventilation mode, it is shown that the barriers can reduce the risk of infection by 72%. However, for the workstations further away from the outlet (beyond 4 m), the effect of physical barrier cannot be that significant. In summary, this study provides a theoretical analysis for implementing physical barriers, as a low-cost mitigation strategy, subject to various height scenarios and investigation of their effectiveness in reducing the infection transmission probability.

Keywords: COVID-19; Infection risk assessment model; Physical barrier; Simulation; Supply airflow rate; Ventilation mode.