NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF COVID-19 VIRUS DISTRIBUTION IN INDOOR AIR

• Main Author: Fakhrul Fauzi, Moch.
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/62777
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

COVID-19 is an infectious respiratory disease that can infect humans through droplets containing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These droplets can be macro or micro in size, microdroplets can float in the air. By July 2021, the spread of this virus had caused more than 194 million cases of infection and had caused 4.1 million deaths worldwide. Because the impact is so large, it is important to study and predict the transmission of COVID-19 through the air. Indoor airflow patterns play an important role in the transmission of COVID-19 because this airflow determines the trajectory of droplets. To reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, ASHRAE recommends controlling the ventilation system. Therefore, research is needed to find out what kind of ventilation configuration that can reduce the concentration of viruses in the room air. Droplet distribution simulation using Computing Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS Fluent will predict transmission to room occupants. This simulation model is a room with a size of 4 m × 3.02 m × 7 m with various ventilation configurations containing 7 people, 1 person in the front will emit droplets when speaking and is considered a polluter while 6 other people act as receptors. The ventilation configurations used are upper-inlet upper-outlet (configuration of ventilation A), top-inlet upper-outlet (configuration of ventilation B), upper-inlet bottom-outlet (configuration of ventilation C), and top-inlet bottom-outlet (configuration of ventilation D). The value of quanta concentrations (Cq) that can cause the spread of COVID-19 is 30 quanta/m3. The simulation results show that the maximum Cq values in the ventilation configurations A, B, C, and D are 2.64 quanta/m3, 22.48 quanta/m3, 11.36 quanta/m3, and 110.31 quanta/m3. The ventilation configurations A, B, and C have a maximum Cq value below 30 quanta/m3 so that the three ventilation configurations are still safe from exposure to COVID-19 to their occupants. The ventilation configuration A (upper-inlet upper-outlet) is the best ventilation configuration to reduce the virus concentration with a maximum Cq value of only 2.64 quanta/m3.