Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of transmission risk of respiratory particles under different ventilation strategies in an elevator

  • Research Article
  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
  • Published:
Building Simulation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

People in elevators are at risk of respiratory infection because the elevator cabin is crowded and has poor ventilation. The exhaled particles may be inhaled by the susceptible person, deposited on the surface and suspended in the elevator, which can result in direct and indirect transmission. However, whether the air vent designs adopted in the elevator can effectively reduce the transmission risk of respiratory particles remains unknown. In this study, the dispersion of particles under four common ventilation strategies used in the commercial elevator was investigated by proven computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The flow field was simulated with the RNG k-ξ turbulence model and the Lagrangian method was adopted to track particle trajectories. The effects of air vent layout and airflow rate on particle transmission were analyzed. We found that more than 50% of exhaled particles (average value) were suspended in the cabin and difficult to discharge under the investigated ventilation strategies. The deposited fraction of particles on the susceptible person reached up to 39.14% for infiltration ventilation, which led to a high risk of contact infection. Increasing the ventilation rate could not significantly reduce the inhalation proportion of particles due to the poor airflow distribution inside the elevator. A more proper ventilation strategy should be explored for the elevator to control transmission risk.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chen W, Liu L, Hang J, et al. (2023). Predominance of inhalation route in short-range transmission of respiratory viruses: Investigation based on computational fluid dynamics. Building Simulation, 16: 765–780.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai H, Zhao B (2020). Association of the infection probability of COVID-19 with ventilation rates in confined spaces. Building Simulation, 13: 1321–1327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai H, Zhao B (2023). Association between the infection probability of COVID-19 and ventilation rates: An update for SARS-CoV-2 variants. Building Simulation, 16: 3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Rio C, Malani P (2023). Mpox outbreak update—reply. Journal of the American Medical Association, 329: 428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deng Z, Chen Q (2022). What is suitable social distancing for people wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic? Indoor Air, 32: e12935.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du C, Chen Q (2022). Virus transport and infection evaluation in a passenger elevator with a COVID-19 patient. Indoor Air, 32: e13125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duguid JP (1946). The size and the duration of air-carriage of respiratory droplets and droplet-nuclei. The Journal of Hygiene, 44: 471–479.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo Y, Dou Z, Zhang N, et al. (2023). Student close contact behavior and COVID-19 transmission in China’s classrooms. PNAS Nexus, 2: pgad142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ISO (2019). ISO 8100-1 Lifts for the Transport of Persons and Goods—Part 1: Passenger and Goods Passenger Lifts. International Standards Organization.

  • Leung NHL, Chu DKW, Shiu EYC, et al. (2020). Respiratory virus shedding in exhaled breath and efficacy of face masks. Nature Medicine, 26: 676–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Liu D, Yao J (2022). Aerosolization of fungal spores in indoor environments. Science of the Total Environment, 820: 153003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li X, Feng B (2023). Transmission of droplet aerosols in an elevator cabin: Effect of the ventilation mode. Building and Environment, 236: 110261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Licina D, Pantelic J, Melikov A, et al. (2014). Experimental investigation of the human convective boundary layer in a quiescent indoor environment. Building and Environment, 75: 79–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu L, Li Y, Nielsen PV, et al. (2017). Short-range airborne transmission of expiratory droplets between two people. Indoor Air, 27: 452–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu F, Qian H, Luo Z, et al. (2021). The impact of indoor thermal stratification on the dispersion of human speech droplets. Indoor Air, 31: 369–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Liu Z, Wang Y, et al. (2022a). Distribution of droplets/droplet nuclei from coughing and breathing of patients with different postures in a hospital isolation ward. Building and Environment, 225: 109690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Zhao X, Nichols SR, et al. (2022b). Evaluation of airborne particle exposure for riding elevators. Building and Environment, 207: 108543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Deng Z (2023). Transmission and infection risk of COVID-19 when people coughing in an elevator. Building and Environment, 238: 110343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo Q, Ou C, Hang J, et al. (2022). Role of pathogen-laden expiratory droplet dispersion and natural ventilation explaining a COVID-19 outbreak in a coach bus. Building and Environment, 220: 109160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morawska L, Johnson GR, Ristovski ZD, et al. (2009). Size distribution and sites of origin of droplets expelled from the human respiratory tract during expiratory activities. Journal of Aerosol Science, 40: 256–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nazari A, Wang C-C, He R, et al. (2023). Numerical investigation of airborne infection risk in an elevator cabin under different ventilation designs. Physics of Fluids, 35: 63318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishikawa H (2022). A flux correction for finite-volume discretizations: Achieving second-order accuracy on arbitrary polyhedral grids. Journal of Computational Physics, 468: 111481.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Pal A, Biswas R, Sarkar S, et al. (2022). Effect of ventilation and climatic conditions on COVID-19 transmission through respiratory droplet transport via both airborne and fomite mode inside an elevator. Physics of Fluids, 34: 083319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng NN, Chow KW, Liu CH (2021). Computational study on the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus through aerosol in an elevator cabin: Effect of the ventilation system. Physics of Fluids, 33: 103325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satheesan MK, Mui KW, Wong LT (2020). A numerical study of ventilation strategies for infection risk mitigation in general inpatient wards. Building Simulation, 13: 887–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan H, Othman MHD, Kek HY, et al. (2023a). Would sneezing increase the risk of passengers contracting airborne infection? A validated numerical assessment in a public elevator. Energy and Buildings, 297: 113439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan H, Wong KY, Othman MHD, et al. (2023b). Why do ventilation strategies matter in controlling infectious airborne particles? A comprehensive numerical analysis in isolation ward. Building and Environment, 231: 110048.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang F, Zhang T, You R, et al. (2023). Evaluation of infection probability of Covid-19 in different types of airliner cabins. Building and Environment, 234: 110159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei J, Wang L, Jin T, et al. (2023). Effects of occupant behavior and ventilation on exposure to respiratory droplets in the indoor environment. Building and Environment, 229: 109973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Liu W, Luo X, et al. (2022). Prediction and control of aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ventilated context: from source to receptor. Sustainable Cities and Society, 76: 103416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Ren Y, Li N, et al. (2023). Performance of personalized ventilation in mitigating short-range airborne transmission under the influence of multiple factors. Building Simulation, 16: 2077–2092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan Y, Li X, Fang X, et al. (2023). A spatiotemporal assessment of occupants’ infection risks in a multi-occupants space using modified Wells-Riley model. Building and Environment, 230: 110007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Feng G, Bi Y, et al. (2019). Distribution of droplet aerosols generated by mouth coughing and nose breathing in an air-conditioned room. Sustainable Cities and Society, 51: 101721.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang N, Liu L, Dou Z, et al. (2023). Close contact behaviors of university and school students in 10 indoor environments. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 458: 132069.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao X, Yin Y, He Z, et al. (2023). State-of-the-art, challenges and new perspectives of thermal comfort demand law for on-demand intelligent control of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Energy and Buildings, 295: 113325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (No. ZR2021QE027).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Liangyu Zhu and Bujin Feng contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Linyi University, Linyi, 276000, China

    Liangyu Zhu & Xian Li

  2. College of Agriculture, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, 271018, China

    Bujin Feng

  3. School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Fan Liu

Authors
  1. Liangyu Zhu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xian Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bujin Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fan Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Liangyu Zhu, Xian Li, Bujin Feng and Fan Liu. The draft of the manuscript was written by Liangyu Zhu, Xian Li and Bujin Feng. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xian Li.

Ethics declarations

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhu, L., Li, X., Feng, B. et al. Evaluation of transmission risk of respiratory particles under different ventilation strategies in an elevator. Build. Simul. 17, 771–784 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-024-1102-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-024-1102-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation