The study draws on cutting-edge computational approaches for analyzing fluid dynamics to mimic the pollen movement from a willow tree, a prototypical pollen emitter.
Airborne pollen grains contribute to the spread of airborne viruses, especially in crowded environments.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time we show through modeling and simulation how airborne pollen micrograins are transported in a light breeze, contributing to airborne virus transmission in crowds outdoors,” Drikakis said.Each pollen grain can carry hundreds of virus particles at a time.
They simulated outdoor gatherings of roughly 10 or 100 people, some of them shedding COVID-19 particles, and subjected the people to 10,000 pollen grains.
“This included thousands of tree leaves and pollen grain particles, hundreds of stems and a realistic gathering of a crowd of about 100 individuals at about 20 meters from the tree.”.
Next, they look to better understand the mechanisms underlying the interaction between airborne pollen grains and the human respiratory system under different environmental conditions.Reference: “On pollen and airborne virus transmission” by Talib Dbouk and Dimitris Drikakis, 22 June 2021, Physics of Fluids.June 20, 2021June 20, 2021June 20, 2021June 20, 2021June 20, 2021June 20, 2021
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