A recent study conducted at the IIT, Bhubaneswar explored aerosol droplets reach and leak from various protective measures like facemasks and shields during breathing.
The study has been conducted by Dr Venugopal Arumuru, Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical Science (SMS), and his team at IIT Bhubaneswar.
The breathing patterns simulated in the study imitated typical breathing frequencies that include breathing while standing at rest and also slightly longer breaths of healthy adults involved in a moderate activity like walking. The study highlights that the smaller droplets expelled during breathing, can travel up to 4 feet in 5 second.
The study strongly recommends not to use a surgical mask during normal conversations. Surgical mask and face shield combinations are discouraged in hospitals and other places where strict social distancing guidelines are difficult to follow. The leakage of the droplets is noticeable in these cases.A commercial N -95 mask completely impede the leakage of the droplets in the forward direction. However, the droplets' leakage from the gaps between the mask and nose is observed to be significant. A five-layered mask is observed to be the most effective preservative measure with minimum leakage of the droplets.
Prof RV Rajakumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar, congratulated the team for conducting a relevant and relatively unexplored study.In his remarks, Prof. Raja Kumar noted, “IIT Bhubaneswar is continuously engaged in proposing and implementing technological developments to run the academics without also compromising the quality during COVID-19 pandemic. In the recent past, IIT Bhubaneswar has also contributed various technologies and research studies relevant to COVID-19. “Breathing as a source of virus transmission” is not adequately explored in the past. Our recent study is a step ahead in this direction. Dr Venugopal Arumuru said, “The majority of the past research focuses on understanding droplet generation and transport through coughing and sneezing. However, "Breathing," the most common phenomenon, is scarcely studied as a virus transmission source, and the present study goes a step further by evaluating the risks involved with the leakage of the aerosol particle from various masks and non-practicing of social distancing.”
The breathing pattern is simulated at the exit of a standard mannequin's nose, using air and fog as tracer particles.
The peer-reviewed article has been selected as a “Featured Article” in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Advances Journal.