A deterministic pathogen transmission model based on high-fidelity physics

Published in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Volume 401, Part A, 114929, 2022
Doi: 10.1016/j.cma.2022.114929

Abstract

A deterministic pathogen transmission model based on high-fidelity physics has been developed. The model combines computational fluid dynamics and computational crowd dynamics in order to be able to provide accurate tracing of viral matter that is exhaled, transmitted and inhaled via aerosols. The examples shown indicate that even with modest computing resources, the propagation and transmission of viral matter can be simulated for relatively large areas with thousands of square meters, hundreds of pedestrians and several minutes of physical time. The results obtained and insights gained from these simulations can be used to inform global pandemic propagation models, increasing substantially their accuracy.