Ventilation studies in classrooms at IIT Bombay using CFD and droplet tracking

Funding Agency: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Project Summary: Air-borne transmission can pose a major risk of infection spread in enclosed spaces. To mitigate the risk, it is important to understand airflows in enclosed spaces and to explore the possibility of interventions through retrofitting the existing rooms. We propose a combination of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and flow visualization experiments using commonly available incense sticks as smoke generators. This is based on our work that has established a correlation between expensive, rigorous CFD solutions and the deflection of smoke streaks as an indicator of the local flow direction. We propose a staged approach starting with (i) simulations to compute airflows, (ii) using these results to suggest interventions to reduce recirculating (dead) zones; (iii) quick validation using experiments; (iv) validation of these interventions using simulations or airflows and aerosol transport. The proposal combines a first phase to apply the above procedure to representative classrooms and other common facilities at IIT Bombay. This will be followed by a second phase where we analyze the learnings in detail to come up with a deep understanding of airflows in these rooms and optimization between the cost of increased ventilation and energy efficiency.
Total Project outlay:-
Duration and year of initiation: : Two years & 2021