Fluid dynamical simulations of coronavirus-laden respiratory droplets: Mind the wind and ambient air flows!

Simulations par dynamique des fluides de la propagation de gouttelettes respiratoires porteuses de charge virale : Gare aux vents et aux courants d'air !

Simon Mendez (1) , Alexandre Nicolas (2)

1 IMAG - Institut Montpelliérain Alexander Grothendieck
2 ILM - Institut Lumière Matière [Villeurbanne]

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted numerous fluid dynamical simulations of the propagation of potentially virus-laden respiratory droplets. While these studies have highlighted the apparent sensitivity of the numerical results to the sizes of the emitted droplet and the local humidity, many of them are still performed in stagnant air, i.e., without any external air flow. This very short note demonstrates, on the basis of coarse-grained fluid dynamical simulations in a simple generic setting, that even modest winds or air draughts strongly impact the risks of short-ranged transmission via droplets. The induced dispersion of droplets may contribute to explaining the lower risks of viral transmission experienced outdoors, even at short range.

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Simon Mendez, Alexandre Nicolas. Fluid dynamical simulations of coronavirus-laden respiratory droplets: Mind the wind and ambient air flows!. 2021. ⟨hal-03480895⟩