The dispersion characteristics of infectious droplets in a civil aircraft cabin with different air supply rates

This work presents a simulation of infectious droplet dispersion in a civil aircraft cabin with the Euler-Lagrangian method. The influence of different rates of air supply on the airflow field, droplet dispersion, and concentration distribution of infectious droplets are analysed. The results show the rates of air supply have a significant impact on airflow filed. The area of vortex circulation region in the cabin is reduced. Total mass of infectious droplets in the cabin basically reaches stability after the infector exhales the infectious droplets for 120 seconds. The total mass in the civil cabin is 3.56×10-12kg with the 6.9 L per second per person and respectively decreased by 4.21% and 22.75% with increasing the air supply rate to 10 L per second per person and 16 L per second per person. The concentration of infectious droplets in each passenger's respiratory zone is examined. The infector located at the middle of the cabin or sitting near the aisle could affect more passengers and thus, the infector is recommended to sit by the window during the epidemic.