Aerosol Dispersion of Submicrometer Particles in an Aircraft Cabin

Stephanie Vannarath, Peter Kim, Mitchell Ford, Arvind Santhanakrishnan, Yu Feng, CHANGJIE CAI, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

     Abstract Number: 406
     Working Group: Control and Mitigation Technology

Abstract
In 2020, air travel experienced a sharp and unprecedented decline by more than 50% compared to 2019, totaling $500 billion or 0.5% global GDP in losses due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Airborne transmission is a concern in densely populated areas and highly confined indoor environments such as airline cabins. Airlines have implemented strategies to increase proximity to make up for this disruption. However, submicrometer particles could remain in the air longer and travel further compared to large droplets. The overall goal of this study is to analyze aerosol dispersions in the aircraft cabin while the aircraft is running, and propose potential control methods. Therefore, three specific aims were developed to achieve the goal. Aim 1 evaluates the effectiveness of MD-80 (Boeing 717 precursor) aircraft ventilation on reducing particles by size. Aim 2 characterizes the spatial distributions of the submicrometer particles by size under various scenarios (e.g., with and without ventilation, with and without fan gaspers, etc.). Aim 3 evaluates the effects of gasper fan utilization, distance from the aerosol generator source, and seating direction from the aerosol generation source on particle concentrations in the aircraft cabin. The results show that ventilation significantly reduces ~0.1 – 0.4 µm particles present in the aircraft cabin. Gasper utilization is an effective method of reducing all submicrometer (~0.1 – 1.0 µm) particles. The General Linear Modeling determines that gasper utilization, distance from the aerosol generator, and seating position to the aerosol generator have significant effects on particle concentration in the MD-80 aircraft.