ASME Mid-Continent Section: Technical Presentation: Viral Infection Spread in Indoor Environment and Proposed Solutions

Description

Abstract: Since the onset of the COVID pandemic, the 6-foot rule and use of air purification devices have been promoted as crucial steps in the fight against the virus. To gain a thorough understanding of applicability of these proposals, we conducted an extensive computational fluid dynamics study of buildings and office spaces. All computational methods used were extensively validated against precise experimental data. The research brought to light some remarkable aspects of viral material dissemination that forced us to move away from the conventional wisdom and think of novel solution strategies to impede the growth of infections especially in air-conditioned indoor spaces. In this ASME Seminar I would like to share these findings and the solutions proposed. Bio: Dr. Shubham Srivastava is the head of the Engineering Simulations department at Rheem Manufacturing (USA) where he leads the group's research in the field of Combustion, Fluid dynamics and Heat transfer. He received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. His research interests include Combustion and Thermal-fluid sciences where he has over 10 years of experience in experimental as well as computational methods development.