Inter-flat airflow and airborne disease transmission in high-rise residential buildings.
1. A virus-spread mechanism is related to inter-flat or interzonal airflow through open windows caused by buoyancy effects. 2. Both on-site measurements and numerical simulations quantify the amount of the exhaust air that exits the upper part of the window of a floor and re-enters the lower part of the open window of the immediately upper floor. 3. Ventilation air could contain up to 7% (in terms of mass fraction) of the exhaust air from the lower floor.4. In high-rise buildings, windows flush with the façade are a major route for the vertical spread of pathogen-containing aerosols, especially those<1 μm in diameter.
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. bejlniu@polyu.edu.hk
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J
Niu
C W
CW
Tung
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N
Gao
D000392:Air Movements; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D006723:Hong Kong; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014505:Urban Population; D014691:Ventilation