ArticlePhysics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994)2021
Effects of slope and speed of escalator on the dispersion of cough-generated droplets from a passenger.
Article in Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Research on Loosening Fault Diagnosis Method of Escalator Drive Mainframe Anchor Bolts Based on Improved High-Strength Denoising RCDAE Model.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- On the efficacy of facial masks to suppress the spreading of pathogen-carrying saliva particles during human respiratory events: Insights gained via high-fidelity numerical modeling.Medical research archives · 2024Article
- Transmission of droplet aerosols in an elevator cabin: Effect of the ventilation mode.Building and environment · 2023Article
- Computational decision-support tools for urban design to improve resilience against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases: A systematic review.Progress in planning · 2023Article
- Reducing Virus Transmission from Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning Systems of Urban Subways.Toxics · 2022Article
- Numerical model for cough-generated droplet dispersion on moving escalator with multiple passengers.Indoor air · 2022Article
- Airborne transmission of COVID-19 virus in enclosed spaces: An overview of research methods.Indoor air · 2022Review
- Experimental study of the dispersion of cough-generated droplets from a person going up- or downstairs.AIP advances · 2022Article
- Numerical investigation of droplets in a cross-ventilated space with sitting passengers under asymptomatic virus transmission conditions.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- Exposure risk analysis of COVID-19 for a ride-sharing motorbike taxi.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- Effect of recirculation zones on the ventilation of a public washroom.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- How severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 aerosol propagates through the age-specific upper airways.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- Numerical investigation of respiratory drops dynamics released during vocalization.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- Double masking protection vs. comfort-A quantitative assessment.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
- A computational study of expiratory particle transport and vortex dynamics during breathing with and without face masks.Physics of fluids (Woodbury, N.Y. : 1994) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the pandemic of COVID-19, the public is encouraged to take stairs or escalators instead of elevators. However, the dispersion of respiratory droplets in these places, featured by slopes and human motion, is not well understood yet. It is consequently unclear whether the commonly recommended social-distancing guidelines are still appropriate in these scenarios. In this work, we analyze the dispersion of cough-generated droplets from a passenger riding an escalator with numerical simulations, focusing on the effects of the slope and speed of the escalator on the droplet dispersion. In the simulations, a one-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is adopted, with the air-flow solved using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes method and the droplets modeled as passive Lagrangian particles. It is found that the slope alters the vertical concentration of the droplets in the passenger's wake significantly. The deflection of cough-generated jet and the wake flow behind the passenger drive the cough-generated droplets upwards when descending an escalator and downwards when ascending, resulting in both higher suspension height and larger spreading range of the viral droplets on a descending escalator than on an ascending one. These findings suggest that the present social-distancing guidelines may be inadequate on descending escalators and need further investigation.
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Registered trials
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