Airflow design and source control strategies for reducing airborne contaminant exposure in passenger aircraft cabins during the climb leg

Abstract

The climb leg is one of the most acceleration-intensive periods in a passenger aircraft flight. It was previously found that the passenger exposure to cough-released airborne contaminants during a climb may reach 2.8 to 3.0 times that compared to other legs (Elmaghraby et al., Science and Technology for the Built Environment, 2019, accepted. DOI:10.1080/23744731.2019.1576457). In the current study, airflow design and source control strategies are researched numerically for their ability to reduce cough-released airborne contaminant dispersion in the cabin of a Boeing 767-300 aircraft during a climb. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) was used to mimic the contaminant, which mainly includes cough-released particles in the size range 1.6 to 3 µm in diameter. The airflow design strategies involved altering the supply airflow direction and changing the supply airflow rate. The source control strategies involved changing the cough direction, varying the cough velocity or flow rate, and moving the cougher to different locations in the cabin. Among all cases, relocation of the cougher, changing the airflow direction, and modest increases in airflow rate exhibited the highest reduction in passenger exposure to contaminant compared to the baseline climb case. The exposure reductions were 0.5–0.7 times for the first case, 0.5–0.7 times for the second case, and 0.6–0.7 times for the third case.