Evolution of large-scale flow structures and traces of marked fluid particles within a single-aisle cabin mock-up

Over the past several decades, rapidly growing popularity of airline transportation has pushed many passengers and crew to focus on potential risk of contaminant transmission during commercial air travel. Understanding airflow dynamics and transport property within an aircraft cabin is critical to creating a healthy cabin environment and improving control of epidemics. This work reveals the temporal and spatial evolution process of large-scale flow structures around the aisle region and evaluates impact of airflow’s large-scale flow structures (swing motion around the aisle region and large-scale vortices) on transport property by calculating traces of marked fluid particles (MFPs) passing through passengers’ exhalation area within a Boeing 737-200 cabin mock-up. The Peixoto theorem has been used to interpret temporal and spatial evolution process of large-scale flow structures around the aisle region. Transport property within this single-aisle aircraft cabin is a mixed effect of the airflow’s swing motion, large-scale vortices and longitudinal airflow. Airflow’s swing motion around the aisle region tends to carry MFPs nearby across the aisle region and invade the large-scale vortex in the opposite side. The large-scale vortices try to control MFPs in its each separated zone. The airflow’s swing motion and large-scale vortices dominate MFPs’ latitudinal transmission, while longitudinal airflow dominates MFPs’ longitudinal transmission.