Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T10:59:34.975Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Airborne infection in a fully air-conditioned hospital: III. Transport of gaseous and airborne particulate material along ventilated passageways

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

O. M. Lidwell
Affiliation:
Central Public Health Laboratory, Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A mathematical model is described for the transport of gaseous or airborne particulate material between rooms along ventilated passageways.

Experimental observations in three hospitals lead to a value of about 0.06m.2/sec. for the effective diffusion constant in air without any systematic directional flow. The ‘constant’ appears to increase if there is any directional flow along the passage, reaching about 0.12 m.2/sec. at a flow velocity of 0.04 m./sec.

Together with previously published methods the present formulae make it possible to calculate the expected average amounts of gaseous or particulate material that will be transported from room to room in ventilated buildings in which the ventilation and exchange airflows can be calculated.

The actual amounts transported in occupied buildings, however, vary greatly from time to time.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

References

REFERENCES

Foord, N. & Lidwell, O. M. (1975 a). Airborne infection in a fully air-conditioned hospital. I. Air transfer between rooms. Journal of Hygiene 75, 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foord, N. & Lidwell, O. M. (1975 b). Airborne infection in a fully air-conditioned hospital. II. Transfer of airborne particles between rooms resulting from the movement of air from one room to another. Journal of Hygiene 75, 31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hambraeus, A. & Sanderson, H. F. (1972). The control by ventilation of airborne bacterial transfer between hospital patients, and its assessment by means of a particle tracer. III. Studies with an airborne particle tracer in a ward for burned patients. Journal of Hygiene 70, 299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lidwell, O. M. (1972). The control by ventilation of airborne bacterial transfer between hospital patients and its assessment by means of a particle tracer. II. Ventilation in subdivided isolation units. Journal of Hygiene 70, 287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, R. E. O. & Harding, L. (1969). Studies of the effectiveness of an isolation ward. Journal of Hygiene 67, 649.Google ScholarPubMed