TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical study of the human walking-induced fine particles resuspension
AU - Boulbair, Amir
AU - Benabed, Ahmed
AU - Janssens, Bart
AU - Limam, Karim
AU - Bosschaerts, Walter
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/5/15
Y1 - 2022/5/15
N2 - One of the main sources of pollution in indoor environments is human walking-induced particle resuspension. In this work, the airflow and resuspension of particles smaller than 1 μm generated by foot tapping were investigated numerically using ANSYS CFX software. The k-ω shear stress transport model was considered to simulate the unsteady airflow field around and under the shoe. The immersed solid method was then used to incorporate the shoe in a three-dimensional computational domain. Particle resuspension was predicted by means of the Rock ‘n’ Roll model. The effects of the walking speed and shoe groove pattern (transverse grooves, longitudinal grooves and no groove) were studied. Three different selected particle-substrate combinations (ATD-linoleum, PSL-linoleum and alumina-steel) were tested. The numerical simulations showed that the air below the foot was ejected as a high velocity jet. After the shoe hit the ground, counterrotating vortices were formed around the shoe. The results of particle resuspension were compared with previous experimental works, and good agreement was found. Results shown that for the different studied cases the resuspension fraction ranges over four orders of magnitude, from 10−5 to 10−1. Particle resuspension fractions increased with particle size and walking speed. However, no significant influence of the shoe groove patterns was observed.
AB - One of the main sources of pollution in indoor environments is human walking-induced particle resuspension. In this work, the airflow and resuspension of particles smaller than 1 μm generated by foot tapping were investigated numerically using ANSYS CFX software. The k-ω shear stress transport model was considered to simulate the unsteady airflow field around and under the shoe. The immersed solid method was then used to incorporate the shoe in a three-dimensional computational domain. Particle resuspension was predicted by means of the Rock ‘n’ Roll model. The effects of the walking speed and shoe groove pattern (transverse grooves, longitudinal grooves and no groove) were studied. Three different selected particle-substrate combinations (ATD-linoleum, PSL-linoleum and alumina-steel) were tested. The numerical simulations showed that the air below the foot was ejected as a high velocity jet. After the shoe hit the ground, counterrotating vortices were formed around the shoe. The results of particle resuspension were compared with previous experimental works, and good agreement was found. Results shown that for the different studied cases the resuspension fraction ranges over four orders of magnitude, from 10−5 to 10−1. Particle resuspension fractions increased with particle size and walking speed. However, no significant influence of the shoe groove patterns was observed.
KW - Indoor air quality
KW - Induced airflow
KW - Particle resuspension
KW - Particle-substrate combination
KW - Shoe groove pattern
KW - Walking speed
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127356013&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109050
DO - 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109050
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85127356013
SN - 0360-1323
VL - 216
JO - Building and Environment
JF - Building and Environment
M1 - 109050
ER -