title: Turbulent dispersion via fan-generated flows.
abstract: Turbulent dispersion of passive scalar quantities has been extensively studied in wind tunnel settings, where the flow is carefully conditioned using flow straighteners and grids. Much less is known about turbulent dispersion in the "unconditioned" flows generated by fans that are ubiquitous in indoor environments, despite the importance of these flows to pathogen and contaminant transport. Here, we demonstrate that a point source of scalars released into an airflow generated by an axial fan yields a plume whose width is invariant with respect to the fan speed. The results point toward a useful simplification in modeling of disease and pollution spread via fan-generated flows.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Siobhan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Halloran
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA; Air Quality Research Center, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA; and Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Wexler
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Ristenpart