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Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective

Currently, a novel coronavirus named “SARS-CoV-2” is spreading rapidly across the world, causing a public health crisis, economic losses, and panic. Fecal–oral transmission is a common transmission route for many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Blocking the path of fecal–oral transmission, which occu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Li, Yun-yun, Wang, Ji-Xiang, Chen, Xi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AIP Publishing LLC 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7301880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574232
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0013318
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author Li, Yun-yun
Wang, Ji-Xiang
Chen, Xi
author_facet Li, Yun-yun
Wang, Ji-Xiang
Chen, Xi
author_sort Li, Yun-yun
collection PubMed
description Currently, a novel coronavirus named “SARS-CoV-2” is spreading rapidly across the world, causing a public health crisis, economic losses, and panic. Fecal–oral transmission is a common transmission route for many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Blocking the path of fecal–oral transmission, which occurs commonly in toilet usage, is of fundamental importance in suppressing the spread of viruses. However, to date, efforts at improving sanitary safety in toilet use have been insufficient. It is clear from daily experience that flushing a toilet generates strong turbulence within the bowl. Will this flushing-induced turbulent flow expel aerosol particles containing viruses out of the bowl? This paper adopts computational fluid dynamics to explore and visualize the characteristics of fluid flow during toilet flushing and the influence of flushing on the spread of virus aerosol particles. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) model is used to simulate two common flushing processes (single-inlet flushing and annular flushing), and the VOF–discrete phase model (DPM) method is used to model the trajectories of aerosol particles during flushing. The simulation results are alarming in that massive upward transport of virus particles is observed, with 40%–60% of particles reaching above the toilet seat, leading to large-scale virus spread. Suggestions concerning safer toilet use and recommendations for a better toilet design are also provided.
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spelling pubmed-73018802020-06-18 Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective Li, Yun-yun Wang, Ji-Xiang Chen, Xi Phys Fluids (1994) ARTICLES Currently, a novel coronavirus named “SARS-CoV-2” is spreading rapidly across the world, causing a public health crisis, economic losses, and panic. Fecal–oral transmission is a common transmission route for many viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Blocking the path of fecal–oral transmission, which occurs commonly in toilet usage, is of fundamental importance in suppressing the spread of viruses. However, to date, efforts at improving sanitary safety in toilet use have been insufficient. It is clear from daily experience that flushing a toilet generates strong turbulence within the bowl. Will this flushing-induced turbulent flow expel aerosol particles containing viruses out of the bowl? This paper adopts computational fluid dynamics to explore and visualize the characteristics of fluid flow during toilet flushing and the influence of flushing on the spread of virus aerosol particles. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) model is used to simulate two common flushing processes (single-inlet flushing and annular flushing), and the VOF–discrete phase model (DPM) method is used to model the trajectories of aerosol particles during flushing. The simulation results are alarming in that massive upward transport of virus particles is observed, with 40%–60% of particles reaching above the toilet seat, leading to large-scale virus spread. Suggestions concerning safer toilet use and recommendations for a better toilet design are also provided. AIP Publishing LLC 2020-06-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7301880/ /pubmed/32574232 http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0013318 Text en Copyright © 2020 Author(s) Published under license by AIP Publishing. 1070-6631/2020/32(6)/065107/14/$30.00 All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle ARTICLES
Li, Yun-yun
Wang, Ji-Xiang
Chen, Xi
Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective
title Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective
title_full Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective
title_fullStr Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective
title_full_unstemmed Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective
title_short Can a toilet promote virus transmission? From a fluid dynamics perspective
title_sort can a toilet promote virus transmission? from a fluid dynamics perspective
topic ARTICLES
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7301880/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32574232
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0013318
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