Modelling Bioaerosol Dispersion due to Shower Heads
- Academic lead
- Cath Noakes (Civil Engineering)
- Industrial lead
- Ginny Moore, PHE Porton
- Co-supervisor(s)
- Allen Bennett (Civil Engineering), PHE Porton (Civil Engineering), Duncan Borman (Civil Engineering)
- Project themes
- Environmental Flows, Particulate flows, sediments & rheology, Reacting flows, mixing and safety
We are all familiar with mould in showers and bathrooms, but where does this come from? There is increasing evidence that the shower plays a major role, but we have little understanding as to how microorganisms in water systems are dispersed into the environment and what risks this poses.
This project aims to model the release of microorganisms from showers to quantify occupant exposure. This will involve particle and bioaerosol measurements from an experimental shower system at PHE and development of a CFD model to simulate the dispersion of water droplets and microorganisms from the shower head. Together the data from these two elements will be used to model the evaporation and transport of droplets in a bathroom environment, and to evaluate the influence of parameters such as temperature, humidity and ventilation on the fate of microorganisms within the droplets.