Simulation of aerosol transmission on a Boeing 737 airplane with intervention measures for COVID-19 mitigation

Identifying economically viable intervention measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission on aircraft is of critical importance especially as new SARS-CoV2 variants emerge. Computational fluid-particle dynamic simulations are employed to investigate aerosol transmission and intervention measures on a Boeing 737 cabin zone. The present study compares aerosol transmission in three models: (a) a model at full passenger capacity (60 passengers), (b) a model at reduced capacity (40 passengers), and (c) a model at full capacity with sneeze guards/shields between passengers. Lagrangian simulations are used to model aerosol transport using particle sizes in the 1-50 μm range, which spans aerosols emitted during breathing, speech, and coughing. Sneeze shields placed between passengers redirect the local air flow and transfer part of the lateral momentum of the air to longitudinal momentum. This mechanism is exploited to direct more particles to the back of the seats in front of the index patient (aerosol source) and reduce lateral transfer of aerosol particles to other passengers. It is demonstrated that using sneeze shields on full capacity flights can reduce aerosol transmission to levels below that of reduced capacity flights without sneeze shields.