In-Flight Gesundheit! Just How Far Does That Sneeze Travel?

Simulation software helps scientists at FAA-funded lab map out the spread of airborne pathogens.

With flu season underway, it’s somehow appropriate that researchers have mapped out exactly how airborne germs spread in the cabin environment. Researchers at the FAA’s Center for Excellence at Purdue University have created a video simulation that begins with a passenger sneezing on a crowded plane.

The particles from the sneeze — shown in the simulation as multicolored dots — are picked up by the airflow, and while they are eventually dispersed throughout the cabin, they have the greatest initial concentration in the air above those seated on either side of the sneezing passenger.

To make this video, researchers collaborated with Pennsylvania engineering firm ANSYS. ANSYS’s precise simulation software — normally used to model structural mechanics, elastics, fragmentation, etc. — modeled the aerodynamics of fluid droplets and allowed the researchers to observe how airborne pathogens spread in an enclosed, pressurized space.

Replicating a cabin environment that constantly pumps and recycles air was a challenge for the researchers. In order to make their simulations as realistic as possible, they considered everything that could impact the flow of air, including overhead air conditioning nozzles and the currents created by flight attendants’ carts.

Using ANSYS’s simulation software, the researchers created hundreds of different scenarios for modeling the spread of pathogens in airplanes. These simulations will help the FAA to create safer, healthier flying environments, which in turn may help to curb outbreaks of airborne diseases.

Speaking recently of these advances to Popular Science, ANSYS’s aerospace and industry director Robert Harwood explained, “Since this work really started, you’ve got more advanced passenger environments. It’s a key protective battleground against the flu and other germs.”

[Video: YouTube]