ARTICLE IN PRESS

Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1691–1702

www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Study on transport characteristics of saliva droplets produced by

coughing in a calm indoor environment
Shengwei Zhu, Shinsuke Kato, Jeong-Hoon Yang
Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153, Japan
Received 15 March 2005; received in revised form 6 April 2005; accepted 24 June 2005

Abstract

In this paper, the transport characteristics of saliva droplets produced by coughing are examined in a calm indoor environment.
Three subjects are studied, with results indicating that more than 6.7 mg of saliva is expelled at speeds of up to 22 m/s during each
individual cough, and that saliva droplets can travel further than 2 m. In addition, the dispersion processes of saliva droplets of
different diameters expelled during coughing are analyzed using the Lagrangian equation. The results indicate that the transport
characteristics of saliva droplets due to coughing change with size. The effects of gravity or inertia on droplets of 30 mm or less are
negligible due to their small sizes, and therefore their transport is mostly influenced by the indoor flow field. Droplets of 50–200 mm,
which are significantly affected by gravity, fall as the flow-field weakens. Droplets of 300 mm or more, which are affected more by
inertia than gravity, fall difficultly. Moreover, the analytical results also indicate that the droplets’ transport is greatly influenced by
the spatial relationship between the air-conditioner and the subjects. Finally, based on the experimental and analytical results,
droplet infection by saliva droplets due to coughing is examined.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Subject experiment; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD); Lagrangian equation; Particle image velocimetry; Saliva droplets

1. Introduction diseases due to the viruses adhering to their surfaces [6].

Coughing is symptomatic of infectious respiratory
diseases such as SARS and influenza, and much research
has been carried out in the fields of physiology,
pathology, and epidemiology, etc. This research has
examined the coughing mechanism by considering it as a
common physiological phenomenon [1], and examined
the relationship between coughing and its associated
diseases [2–5]. However, there have been few detailed
studies on how air and saliva are expelled from the
mouth and dispersed into the surrounding air by
coughing. Saliva droplets coughed out by patients with
infectious respiratory diseases are considered to be the
main transporters in the droplet infection of these
Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 354 526 434;
fax: +81 354 526 432.
E-mail address: swzhu@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp (S.W. Zhu).
When considering the infection routes and preventive
measures for infectious respiratory diseases in an indoor
environment, transport of viruses via saliva droplets due
to coughing cannot be neglected. The purpose of this
study is therefore to clarify the transport characteristics
of saliva droplets due to coughing in a calm indoor
environment.
To achieve this purpose, a number of subject
experiments and numerical analyses were carried out.
The first subject experiment was performed to determine
the initial velocity of the coughed airflow. Particle image
velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the velocity
distribution around the mouth of the coughing subject.
Next, saliva coughed by the subject was collected using a
mask, and the mass of the saliva was assessed with an
electronic balance. Finally, flour was used as a tracer to
visualize the dispersion of saliva droplets expelled
during coughing, and the extent of the flours’ range

0360-1323/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2005.06.024
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1692 S.W. Zhu et al. / Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1691–1702

Nomenclature Cd drag coefficient

F~dr drag force (N)
Ap droplet cross-sectional area (m2) F~g gravity (N)
dp droplet diameter (m) mp droplet mass (kg)
~P
F pressure force (N) Rep droplet Reynolds number
k turbulence energy (m2/s2) u local airflow velocity (m/s)
P pressure (Pa) Vd droplet volume (m3)
t time (s) s standard deviation
up droplet velocity (m/s) m molecular dynamic viscosity (kg/m/s)
rf air density (kg/m3) rp droplet density (kg/m3)

was observed. In the numerical analysis, we firstly
analyzed the indoor flow field assuming coughing and
respiration to be steady phenomena, and using the
maximum initial velocity of the coughed airflow
determined by the PIV experiment as the boundary
condition. We subsequently analyzed the transport
process for droplets with diameters of 30, 50, 100, 200,
300, and 500 mm using the Lagrangian equation to show
how saliva droplets were expelled from the mouth by
coughing, dispersed in the air, and finally attached to
surfaces. Based on the results, the transport character-
istics of saliva droplets produced by coughing are
investigated in a calm indoor environment.
boundary conditions for the following numerical simu-
lations.
2.2.1. Outline of the PIV system
The PIV system used in this study is outlined in Table
2. As shown in Fig. 1, a cross section of a flow field is
irradiated at very short intervals using a high-powered
pulsed laser, and the image frames of the particles are
recorded as digital data by a CCD camera synchronized
with the laser. The wind velocity vectors are then
calculated using the pattern correlation method by
detecting the peak of the correlation coefficient, which
corresponds to the amount of particles’ movement [7].

2.2.2. Outline of test chamber

2. Experimental study on transport characteristics of
saliva droplets
We initially investigated the transport characteristics
of coughed saliva droplets in experimental studies. In
the experiments, the initial velocity of the coughed
airflow and the amount of the saliva expelled with each
cough were determined, and the dispersion processes of
saliva droplets due to coughing were visualized.
2.1. Subjects
The experiment was carried out in a styrene-board
chamber (1.8 m
1.8 m
1.8 m) set in a laboratory
located in the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), Tokyo
University. In order to prevent subjects being harmed by
the tracer gas or laser beams and to avoid any effects of
the ascending warm airflow (attributable to the subject’s
metabolic heat) on the coughed airflow [8], the chamber
was divided by a styrene board with a rectangular opening
(5 cm
3 cm) at the height of the human mouth (Fig. 2).
The subject and the PIV system were situated on opposite
sides of the board in the experiment.

Three healthy male graduate students were used as 2.2.3. Outline of PIV experiment
subjects in the experiments. The physiological data of During the experiment, the measurement area of the
the subjects are listed in Table 1. PIV system was kept in a calm indoor environment,
while the subjects coughed through the opening into the
2.2. Measurement of initial velocity of coughed airflow measurement area. As shown in Table 3, the pulse
interval was set to 0.05 ms in accordance with the
The initial velocity of the coughed airflow was measurement area and maximum wind velocity. Addi-
measured using a PIV system. The result was used as tionally, in order to remove the erroneous vectors in the
resulting vector diagram, velocity-range validation,
Table 1 peak-height validation and moving average validation
Physiological data of subjects were carried out.
Subject Age Weight (Kg) Height (m) Lung capacity (L)
2.2.4. Measurement results
A 28 68 1.75 4.3 Because the PIV system used was incapable of
B 29 67 1.74 3.6
continuous measurement, the flow field around the mouth
C 30 70 1.68 3.5
of the subject was measured repeatedly at intervals of
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S.W. Zhu et al. / Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1691–1702 1693

Table 2
Make-up of PIV System

Processor PIV 2000 processor of Dantec

CCD Camera Kodac ES1.0, with the Nikon Micro lens of
60 mm (35 mm, F ¼ 5.6)
Laser Plused Nd:YAG laser of New Wave (50 mJ/
pulse, 15 Hz)

Fig. 3. Velocity frequency distriburtion.

70 ms. In this study, wind velocity vectors formed within

5 ms after coughing were selected, and a total of 60
confirmed results were obtained. The maximum velocity
Fig. 1. Concept of PIV system.
in each confirmed result was considered to be the initial
velocity of the coughed airflow. Fig. 3 shows that the
initial velocity of the coughed airflow ranged widely
between 6 and 22 m/s, with the most frequent values being
Styrene board Measurement area around 10 m/s, and averaged about 11.2 m/s. An example
(5mm) of a confirmed result is shown in Fig. 4, which shows the
Laser Sheet
velocity distribution at about 2.3 ms after coughing.
Fig. 4(1) shows that velocities greater than 18 m/s were
Laser restricted to a narrow area, and there was a substantial
velocity gradient from the center to the periphery of the
coughed air mass. Furthermore, as the coughed air mass
Opening: Seeding
proceeded, the frontal flow field was disturbed, and
5cm×3cm
CC D surrounding air was engulfed in the coughed airflow by
Camera the vortices induced around it (Fig. 4(2)).

2.3. Measurement of mass of coughed saliva

Subject
Processor
2.3.1. Measurement method
Flow map
Saliva expelled by the subject when coughing 10 times
consecutively was collected using a mask. The average
Fig. 2. Outiline of PIV experiment. amount of saliva produced in each coughing process was
estimated by subtracting the weight of the mask before
and after the coughing, and dividing the result by 10.1
An ultra sensitive electronic balance offering a precision
1
Past studies indicate that about 95% of aerosols expelled during
Table 3
breathing, coughing, and sneezing are less than 1 mm in size and their
Parameters of PIV system
numbers total about 105–107 droplets/l [11,12]. Assuming that the
Size of field 100 mm
100 mm maximum amount of air that can be expelled in a coughing process is
Time between recordings 70 ms smaller than the lung capacity of each person, that a typical lung
Time between laser pulses 0.05 ms capacity of a male adult is 4 l, and that aerosol density is 1000 kg/m3,
Interrogation area 32pixel
32pixel we can estimate that the mass of the saliva droplets of less than 1 mm
Overlap 25%
25% emitted in a coughing process of a male adult is be 0.2 mg or less. Thus,
Amount of vectors 1722(41
42) the mass of the saliva droplets that pass through the mask can be
considered to be 0.2 mg or less.
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Fig. 4. Velocity distrbution in measurement area: (1) vector velocity
(m/s); (2) scalar velocity (m/s).
tolerance of 0.001 g was used to improve the experi-
mental precision (Mettler Toledo PR1203), and the
mask was measured immediately after the 10 coughs in
order to avoid the effect of evaporation. Moreover, the
subjects were asked to breathe through their nose during
the experiment.
2.3.2. Measurement results
As shown in Table 4, the results varied within a range
of 6–8 mg per cough depending on the subject, and
averaged about 6.7 mg. It indicates that wearing a mask
is a very effective way of preventing the droplet infection
Table 4
Mass of coughed saliva
A (mg) B (mg) C (mg) Average (mg)
Result 7.7 6.5 6.1 6.7
Fig. 5. Visualization of coughed airflow.
of the infectious respiratory diseases via the saliva
droplets produced by coughing.
2.4. Visualization of dispersion process of saliva droplets
produced by coughing
2.4.1. Measurement method
The experiment was carried out in a calm thermo-
static (3.5 m
3.0 m
2.5 m) chamber set in the labora-
tory mentioned above. In the experiment, flour (tracer)
put in the mouth of the subject was expelled by
coughing, and the movement of the flour was filmed
using a digital video camera (Sony DSR-PD100).2
2.4.2. Measurement results
The flour expelled by coughing firstly traveled at a
high speed over a distance of 30 cm or more, then
gradually disintegrated and dispersed in the air while its
velocity was reduced (Fig. 5). Because some of the tracer
was found to travel beyond 2 m, saliva droplets
contained in the coughed airflow with diameters less
than the diameters of the flour particles are expected to
disperse over a greater distance.
3. Investigation into transport characteristics of saliva
droplets due to coughing by numerical analysis
Besides the above experiments, four simulations were
performed to investigate how the coughed saliva
droplets of different sizes were transported in common
indoor environments. In addition, the influence of the
spatial relationship between an air-conditioner and the
room’s occupants was examined based on the simulation
results. In each simulation, an indoor flow-field gener-
ated by consecutive coughs by one person in a calm
room was analyzed using computational fluid dynamics
2
Care was exercised to avoid the aggregation of flour with saliva.
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Fig. 6. Room model analyzed: (1) Case 1 and Case 2; (2) Case 3; (3) Case 4.

Table 5
Cases analyzed

Case no. Room model Occupants’ posture Position of air-conditioner

1 Ordinary conference room Sitting+sitting Wall by the side of the coughing person
2 Wall opposite to the coughing person
3 Ordinary bedroom Supine+standing Wall behind the bed
4 Wall opposite to the standing person

(CFD), assuming the unsteady airflows produced by
coughing and respiration to be steady. The resulting
dispersion process of the saliva droplets due to coughing
was subsequently analyzed using the Lagrangian equa-
tion in the flow field based on the steady models.
Because the steady models assign a larger momentum to
the air than in reality, care should be exercised when
comparing the analytical results with the actual situa-
tion. Moreover, to regenerate the warm ascending air
stream around the human body caused by metabolic
heat, human models of complex shape (including
detailed features such as limbs, chests, and jaws), were
used in the numerical analyses.
3.1. Room model
Four cases were analyzed for an air-conditioned room
(3.5 m
3.0 m
2.5 m) with an ordinary wall-mounted
air-conditioner. The air-conditioner had an inlet open-
ing with an area of 0.035 m2 (0.05 m
0.7 m), from
which air flowed horizontally at 26 1C at a speed of
0.4 m/s.
In cases 1 and 2 (Fig. 6(1), Table 5), the room was
assumed to be an ordinary conference room, with a desk
placed in the center of the room, and two human models
seated on either side of the desk. The distance between
the mouths of the two human models was about 1.54 m.
In case 1, the human model closer to the air-conditioner
was assumed to cough consecutively, and the human
model on the other side was assumed to inhale
constantly. In case 2, the human model on the side
away from the air-conditioner was assumed to cough
consecutively, and the human model closer to the air-
conditioner was assumed to inhale constantly. In cases 1
and 2, only half the room area was simulated because of
the spatial symmetry in the Y-direction.
In cases 3 and 4 (Figs. 6(2)–(3), Table 5), the room
was assumed to be an ordinary bedroom, with a bed
placed in the center of the room adjacent to a wall, the
human model lying on the bed was assumed to cough
consecutively, and another human model standing next
to the bed was assumed to inhale constantly. An
air-conditioner is set on the wall behind the bed in
case 3 and on the wall facing the standing human model
in case 4.
In the model of consecutive coughing, the maximum
velocity of the coughed airflow (22 m/s) obtained in the
aforementioned PIV experiment was used. The steady
inhalation model assumed a constant inhalation rate of
0.0004 m3/s through the nose.3 Moreover, the area of the
mouth opening of the sitting and supine human models
was 3.5 cm2, and that of the nose opening of the sitting
and standing human models was 3.3 cm2 [9].
3
In this study, the respiration phenomenon was assumed to be
steady inhalation. The inhaled volume was determined from the
metabolic rate of 1.3 met [13]. Thus, as shown in Fig. 15, we assumed
that a person would inhale constantly at 10 l/min (inhalation of 10
times/min and a volume of 1 l per inhalation).
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Table 6 Table 7
Numerical methods Boundary conditions

Turbulence model Standard k– e model Supply opening Velocity: 0.40 m/s, Temperature:
Algorithm SIMPLE 26 1C,
Space scheme Velocity terms: MARS; scalar Turbulence intensity: 10%,
terms: first order up wind Turbulence scale: 0.05 m
Model for particle simulation Lagrangian model Size: 0.05 m
0.7 m

Exhaust opening Velocity: free slip, Temperature:

free slip
Size: 0.05 m
0.7 m
3.2. Outline of simulation
Wall boundary (including the Velocity: generalized log law
3.2.1. CFD method surfaces of bed and desk) Temperature: generalized log law,
adiabatic
As shown in Table 6, the CFD analyses were
performed with the Standard k– e model, and the Human body
implicit algorithm, SIMPLE method, was used. More- Human surfaces Velocity: generalized log law
Temperature: generalized log law,
over, the monotone advection and reconstruction convective heat transfer: 33.8 W
scheme (MARS) [10] and the first-order upwind schemes (sitting human model: uniform
(UD) were, respectively, used for velocity and scalar heat flux of 23.0 W/m2, standing
terms. human model: uniform heat flux of
In cases 1 and 2, the number of spatial grids was 23.1 W/m2, standing human model:
uniform heat flux was given by
447,801 and the total number of surface grids of the considering the distribution
sitting human model was 4620. The numbers of spatial characteristicsa).
grids in cases 3 and 4 were 572,146 and 572,331,
Mouth openings of coughing Velocity: 22 m/s, Temperature:
respectively. In both cases, the total number of surface persons 32 1C
grids of the standing human model was 13,520 and the Turbulence intensity: 10%,
total number of surface grids of the exposed part of the Turbulence scale: 0.01 m
supine human model, which was partly covered with a Moreover, droplets are randomly
blanket, was 2860. expelled at 22 m/s
Table 7 shows the boundary conditions. A generalized Nose opening of inhaling Airflow flux: 0.0004 m3/s (about
log-law wall function was applied for the airflow near persons 1.3 met)
the wall, and the amount of convective heat transfer was Turbulence intensity: 10%,
Turbulence scale: 0.01 m
given at the surfaces of the human models.4 Moreover,
the temperature of coughed air was assumed to be 32 1C. a
This distribution was obtained through an experiment using a
thermal manikin laid down and covered with a blanket. Sensible heat
dissipation in a sensible heat state of sleeping (metabolic rate of
3.2.2. Lagrangian model 0.7 Met) was allowed. The temperature distribution on the blanket
The dispersion processes of saliva droplets in a steady measured with a thermo-viewer was given as reference data [14].
flow field obtained by CFD analysis were determined
from the Lagrangian equation. For saliva droplets, the
following motion equation is given by considering the Here, gravity F ~p , and drag force
~g , pressure force F
effects of Stokes drag, gravity, and pressure variation.5 ~
F dr , are respectively given by Eq. (2), (3), and (4):
u ~
d~ ~p þ F
~g . F~g ¼ V d ðrp 2rf Þ~ g ¼ ð0; 0; 9; 8Þ m=s2 Þ,
g ð~ (2)
mp ¼ F dr þ F (1)
dt
4 F~p ¼ V d r p, (3)
Regarding the heat transfer from the human body, only the
convective heat transfer was calculated in the numerical analysis in this
1
study. Since the CFD simulation is not coupled to the radiation F~dr ¼ C d rf Ap j~
u~ u~
up jð~ up Þ. (4)
calculation, there is no radiative heat reception and convective heat 2
release on the wall surfaces, and the driving force to achieve uniformity The value of the drag coefficient Cd is given by
in the room through convective heat transfer becomes rather weak. As (
a result, vertical temperature distribution may become slightly greater 24ð1 þ 0:15Re0:687
P =ReP ; ReP p103 ;
than in reality while vertical dispersion through buoyancy may be Cd ¼ (5)
suppressed [15]. 0:44; ReP 4103 :
5
Since the purpose of this study is to investigate the transport
characteristics of the saliva droplets due to coughing of different sizes, The Reynolds number of droplets is given by
various complicated phenomena, such as collision, splitting, and
u~
rf j~ uP jd P
evaporation, which actually occur during the dispersion processes of Rep ¼ . (6)
the saliva droplets are not taken into consideration. m
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uÞ of the airflow in which droplets are

The velocity ð~
transported is given by adding a random perturbation to
the local average velocity
~ u~ þ ~
u¼~ u0 . (7)
The variable velocity component is chosen randomly
from a Gaussian probability density function with the
standard deviation s below.
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
s ¼ 2k=3, (8)
! Fig. 7. Scalar velocity distrbution in Case 1 (m/s): (1) in section
2
0 1 u0
~ ABCD; (2) in region A (enlarged).
u Þ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi exp  2 .
Gð~ (9)
2ps 2s

Saliva droplets of 30, 50, 100, 200, 300, and 500 mm in

diameter were used here. The calculation assumes that
saliva droplets are randomly expelled from the mouth at
a velocity of 22 m/s and that they adhere to a wall
surface upon impact.6 Moreover, the numbers of saliva
droplets of each size are 5000 in cases 1 and 2, and
10,000 in cases 3 and 4.

3.3. Results

3.3.1. Airflow field

The initial velocity of the coughed airflow was
constant at 22 m/s in each case. The velocity of the
coughed airflow decreases rapidly around the mouth,
and the area with highest velocity distribution (48 m/s)
is limited to a very small region near the mouth. The
whole room was generally kept in a calm state with flow
velocities of 0.2 m/s or less.
In cases 1 and 2, the coughed airflow was traveling at
a high speed, pulling and involving the surrounding air
in it, and impacting on the face of the opposing person
at a speed of about 1.2 m/s. Because the ascending warm
airflow caused by natural convection along the human
body was intersected by the coughed airflow, no
significant rising thermal plumes were observed above
the two human heads (Figs. 7 and 8).
The velocity distributions of the airflow fields in cases
3 and 4 are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. They
show that, although the standing person was not directly
impacted by the coughed airflow due to the warm rising
airflow (as a result of natural convection) mixing with
the coughed airflow, there was no significant rising
thermal plume above the head, and the airflow velocities
around him are mostly 0.2 m/s or less. Contrastingly,
because the coughed airflow was deflected away from
6
Because saliva droplets are mainly formed by water and incapable
to rebound with elasticity in case they collide with a wall surface, we
assume that when saliva droplets collide with a wall surface, they will
adhere to that surface. Moreover, since the attention of this study is
primarily into the dispersion processes of saliva droplets, the various
physical phenomena, which may be generated when a saliva droplet is
adhering to a wall surface, are not taken into consideration.
Fig. 8. Scalar velocity distrbution in Case 2 (m/s)): (1) in section
ABCD; (2) in region A (enlarged).
the wall due to its collision with the airflow from the air-
conditioner (case 3), the maximum wind velocity at the
center of the EFGH section in case 3 was more than
twice that in case 4. Moreover, the coughed airflow in
case 3 was deflected away from the standing person by
the warm ascending airflow around the person. In
contrast, in case 4, the coughed airflow was deflected
toward the standing person by the airflow from the air-
conditioner.
3.3.2. Transport of saliva droplets due to coughing
In each of the four cases, after coughing, the saliva
droplets traveled through the air as conglomerates,
regardless of their sizes, at a velocity of 22 m/s. The mass
then gradually disintegrates as its velocity reduces, and
the saliva droplets disperse in the air, eventually
adhering to the wall surfaces.
The results of cases 1 and 2 are shown in Figs. 11 and
12, respectively. According to Figs. 11(1) and 12(1), the
saliva droplets of 30 mm in diameter were mostly
transported by the coughed airflow. After being
coughed out, the droplets were soon affected by the
indoor flow field, and consequently dispersed through-
out the room. These droplets remained airborne in the
room for a prolonged period, and their final point of
adhesion cannot be predicted. Figs. 11(2) and 12(2)
indicate that some droplets of 50 mm in diameter
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Fig. 9. Scalar velocity distrbution in Case 3 (m/s): (1) in region A(enlarged); (2) in section ABCD; (3) in section EFGH.

Fig. 10. Scalar velocity distrbution in Case 4 (m/s): (1) in region A(enlarged); (2) in section ABCD; (3) in section EFGH.

impacted on the face and neck of the person opposite,
while the remainder passed by and then dropped to the
floor. Figs. 11(3) and 12(3) show that among the saliva
droplets of 100 mm in diameter, more than 80%
impacted on the lower neck area of the person opposite,
while the remainder dropped to the floor soon after
passing their body. Figs. 11(4) and 12(4) show that the
saliva droplets of 200 mm in diameter started to fall
before reaching the person opposite, and nearly 100% of
these droplets impacted on the chest of the person
opposite. However, as shown in Figs. 11(5) and 12(5),
the saliva droplets of 300 mm or more in diameter did
not descend significantly, and nearly 100% of them
impacted on the neck of the opposite person. Figs. 11(6)
and 12(6) show that most saliva droplets of 500 mm in
diameter impacted on the face of the opposite person
with little or no observable gravitational effect.
The results of cases 3 and 4 are shown in Figs. 13 and
14, respectively. As shown in cases 1 and 2, although the
saliva droplets of 30 mm in diameter were dispersed
throughout the room and adhere randomly to the
surfaces (Figs. 13(1) and 14(1)), the extent of dispersion
narrowed in droplets of 50 mm or more, and the
dispersion of saliva droplets of 300 mm in diameter was
limited to the area above the pillow (Figs. 13(2)–(5) and
14(2)–(5)). For the droplets of 500 mm in diameter, their
velocity did not decrease significantly after being
expelled from the mouth, and they impacted directly
with the ceiling (Fig. 13(6) and 14(6)). Moreover, in case
3, saliva droplets of 50–300 mm fell some way from the
standing person because of the effect of the warm
ascending airflow resulting from natural convection. On
the other hand, in case 4, droplets of 50–300 mm fell
closer to the standing person because of the effect of the
air-conditioner’s airflow.
3.4. Discussion on transport characteristics of saliva
droplets due to coughing
Based on the above results, we examined the transport
characteristics of coughed saliva droplets after
affirming the feasibility of the assumption of consecutive
coughing. Moreover, the influence of the indoor
ventilation situation on the droplets’ transport and
the droplet infection via coughed droplets will be
investigated.
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Fig. 11. Saliva droplets’ dispersion (simulation results of Case 1): (1) D ¼ 30 mm; (2) D ¼ 50 mm; (3) D ¼ 100 mm; (4) D ¼ 200 mm; (5) D ¼
300 mm; (6) D ¼ 500 mm.

Fig. 12. Saliva droplets’ dispersion (simulation results of Case 2): (1) D ¼ 30 mm; (2) D ¼ 50 mm; (3) D ¼ 100 mm; (4) D ¼ 200 mm; (5) D ¼
300 mm; (6) D ¼ 500 mm.
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Fig. 13. Saliva droplets’ dispersion (simulation results of Case 3): (1)
D ¼ 30 mm; (2) D ¼ 50 mm; (3) D ¼ 100 mm; (4) D ¼ 200 mm; (5)
D ¼ 300 mm; (6) D ¼ 500 mm.
Fig. 14. Saliva droplets’ dispersion (simulation results of Case 4): (1)
D ¼ 30 mm; (2) D ¼ 50 mm; (3) D ¼ 100 mm; (4) D ¼ 200 mm; (5)
D ¼ 300 mm; (6) D ¼ 500 mm.
3.4.1. Validity of assuming consecutive coughing
In the preceding section, we carried out numerical
analysis by assuming that coughing, which is actually an
irregular phenomenon, is a steady phenomenon. Ac-
cording to the simulation results, the area of high
velocity (1.8 m/s or more) was limited to a very small
area near the mouth, and velocities decreased rapidly
away from the mouth. The whole room was generally
kept in a steady state with velocities of 0.2 m/s or less.
Comparing the flow fields obtained by the CFD analyses
with those observed in the PIV and visualization
experiments, the analytical velocities of saliva droplets
(l/s) Air flow/s
Actual pattern (1 l for each inhalation and exhalation)
Average value of for one breath cycle (24 l/min)
1l
2.5s 0.5s 2.5s 0.5s 2.5s 0.5s Time (s)
One breathing cycle (6.0s)
Model used in this study (steady inhalation at 24 l/min)
Fig. 15. Assumption of steady inhalation.
appeared overestimated, but qualitatively in agreement
with the experimental results. We will ignore the
quantitative differences in the flow fields here, because
the primary purpose of this study was to investigate
transport characteristics of saliva droplets of different
sizes due to coughing.
3.4.2. Transport characteristics of saliva droplets due to
coughing
It indicates that the transport characteristics of saliva
droplets due to coughing change with size. According to
the analytical results of cases 1 and 2, saliva droplets of
30 mm or less expelled from the mouth soon dispersed
throughout the room because of the indoor flow field,
without significant influence from gravity or inertia.
Saliva droplets of 50–200 mm were most affected by
gravity, and fell by gravity as the coughed airflow
slowed down. Saliva droplets of 300 mm or more were
affected more by inertia than gravity within the travel
range concerned, and traveled further, especially saliva
droplets of 500 mm, which impacted directly on the
opposite person.7 In relation to the adherence locations
of the saliva droplets, those of 30 mm or less adhered
randomly to all surfaces, those of 50 mm mostly dropped
to the floor, and about 18% impacted on the person
situated opposite. The majority of those with diameters
of 100 mm and over impacted on the opposite person.
This indicates that there is a high risk of droplet
infection of infectious respiratory diseases via the saliva
droplets due to coughing at short distances even in a
calm indoor environment.
As in cases 1 and 2, the transport characteristics of the
saliva droplets due to coughing changed with diameter
in cases 3 and 4. As the diameter of the saliva droplets
increased, the effect of the flow field diminished and the
effects of gravity and inertia increased, with the extent of
7
The ratio of inertia and gravity applied on a droplet is directly
proportional to the square of the velocity difference between the
droplet and the local flow field ðDuÞ2 , and inversely proportional to its
diameter (dp). For the droplets at diameters of 300 mm or more,
because the velocity of the coughed airflow decreases more rapidly
than that of the droplets, the ratio is becoming greater along with
ðDuÞ2 . For example, for the droplet of 500 mm, the ratio is about 105 in
its later travel.
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S.W. Zhu et al. / Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1691–1702
Table 8
Numbers of saliva droplets adhering to standing human body and outlet opening in cases 3 and 4
Case no. Case3
Adhering location (mm) Standing human body
30 52
50 67
100 108
200 0 82
300 0 0
500 0 0
saliva droplets’ distribution limited to a small area
around the supine person’s head. Moreover, because the
air-conditioner was on the wall facing the standing
person in case 4, the coughed airflow rose closer to the
standing person under the influence of the supplied
airflow of the air-conditioner, and saliva droplets of
50–200 mm in diameter fell closer to the standing person.
Table 8 shows the numbers of the saliva droplets per
size, which adhered to the standing person and the
outlet opening of the air-conditioner, for cases 3 and 4.
The results clearly indicate that the number of the saliva
droplets that adhered to the standing person in case 4
was greater than that in case 3 for droplet diameters of
30–200 mm. The number of the saliva droplets that
adhered to the outlet opening of the air-conditioner was
greater in case 3 than case 4 for droplet sizes of
50–300 mm because the air-conditioner was attached to
the wall above and behind the supine person in case 3. It
is notable that more than 50% of the droplets of 300-
mm-diameter were forced out from the outlet opening in
case 3. The above results indicate that the spatial
relationship between the air-conditioner and the occu-
pants greatly affected the transport of the saliva droplets
due to coughing. It also implies that droplet infection of
infectious respiratory diseases can be greatly affected by
the position of the air-conditioner in the room.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the transport characteristics of the saliva
droplets due to coughing were studied in a calm indoor
environment in detail through subject experiment and
numerical analysis. Based on the experimental and
analytical results, droplet infection by saliva droplets
due to coughing was discussed. Moreover, human
models of complex shape, including detailed features,
were used for the numerical analysis. The primary
conclusions of this study are as follows.
(1) According to the results of the subject experiments, a
total of more than 6.7 mg of saliva was expelled on
aggregate at a maximum velocity of 22 m/s in each
cough, and the affected area extended as far as 2 m
1701
Case4 Case3 Case4
Outlet opening
104 666 938
233 161 24
1058 53 0
411 0
5048 0
0 0
or more. The results of the weight assessment of the
coughed saliva indicate that wearing a mask is a very
effective way of preventing droplet infection of
infectious respiratory diseases via saliva droplets
due to coughing.
(2) We used numerical analyses to investigate the
transport characteristics of the saliva droplets due
to coughing of each size in a calm indoor environ-
ment. Since droplets of 30 mm or less in diameter are
very small, the effect of gravity or inertia was
negligible, and their transport was mostly influenced
by the indoor flow field. Saliva droplets of
50–200 mm, which were significantly affected by
gravity, fell as the flow field weakened. The droplets
of 300 mm or more were affected more by inertia
than gravity. The droplets of 500 mm traveled almost
straight and impacted on the first opposite object
within their effective travel range.
(3) Analytical results of cases 1 and 2 indicate that there
was a high risk of droplet infection within short
distances for infectious respiratory diseases, via the
saliva droplets produced by coughing. Analytical
results of cases 3 and 4 indicate that the spatial
relationship between the air-conditioner and the
occupants greatly affects the transport of saliva
droplets due to coughing.
(4) In future studies, we plan to perform transient
simulation by modeling actual coughing phenomena
and further clarify the nature of material transport
by coughing.
Acknowledgements
This study contains part of the results obtained by a
research task force ‘‘Study on SARS Prevention in View
of Sanitation in Buildings’’ (conducted by Susumu
Yoshizawa, Part-Time Lecturer of Aichi Shukutoku
University) in a Health Science Special Research Project
‘‘Urgent Research on SARS.’’ The present study was
also partly supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research (Exploratory Research), Ministry of Educa-
tion, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Shinsuke
Kato, as a representative researcher). The authors would
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1702 S.W. Zhu et al. / Building and Environment 41 (2006) 1691–1702
like to express sincere thanks to all those who have
supported their study.
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