Molecular dynamics is an N-body method wherein dynamic evolution of interacting atoms and molecules is computationally simulated. It is a popular computational method for studying the mechanical and thermal behavior of nanomaterials and nanocomposites. Social force models [1] of pedestrian evolution utilize the same numerical framework for evolving the trajectories of moving pedestrians. In this paper, we propose an integrated model that merges a social force based pedestrian dynamics theory with a stochastic infection transmission framework to evaluate the propagation of Ebola infection aboard an airplane. Air travel has been identified as a leading factor in the spread of many different viruses [2]. Pedestrian motion through airports and airplanes leads to susceptible passengers coming into contact with infected passengers and contagion with harmful consequences. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of pedestrian movement during air-travel on the spread of infectious diseases. We do so borrowing numerical methods like molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo analysis from the field of computational materials science.
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High fidelity modeling of aerosol pathogen propagation in built environments with moving pedestrians
A high fidelity model for the propagation of pathogens via aerosols in the presence of moving pedestrians is proposed. The key idea is the tight coupling of computational fluid dynamics and computational crowd dynamics in order to capture the emission, transport and inhalation of pathogen loads in space and time. An example simulating pathogen propagation in a narrow corridor with moving pedestrians clearly shows the considerable effect that pedestrian motion has on airflow, and hence on pathogen propagation and potential infectivity.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10452153
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2040-7939
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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