Paper Conference

2022 Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild co-organized by ASHRAE and IBPSA-USA

     

A Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for the Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Aerosol Dispersion inside a Grocery Store

Mingkan Zhang, Prateek Shrestha, Xiaobing Liu, Jason Degraw, Dustin Schafer, Nathan Love

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26868/25746308.2022.C009
Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery stores provide essential services to communities all over the world. It is necessary to understand the transport and dynamics of aerosolized viruses in grocery stores for the assessment of infection transmission risk. A 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed for a mediumsized grocery store in the United States. Different cases are simulated to predict the transportation of viral aerosols released from an infected person in the grocery store. The influences of air circulation improvement on transportation of the viral aerosols are discussed. Results show that air circulation enhancement in the grocery store can affect the virus-laden particles distribution in a grocery store from an infected person.
Pages: 76 - 83
Paper:
simbuild2022_C009