{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]],"date-time":"2026-05-13T23:45:15Z","timestamp":1778715915839,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"AIP Publishing","issue":"11","content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The primary objective of this work is to investigate the mixing of droplets\/aerosols, which originates from the sneezing\/coughing (of possibly COVID-19 patient) with the ambient atmosphere. Effectively, we are studying the growth\/decay of droplets\/aerosols in the presence of inhomogeneous mixing, which focuses on the phenomena of entrainment of the (relatively) dry ambient air. We have varied the initial standard deviation, mean radius of the droplets\/aerosols size distribution, and humidity of the ambient atmosphere to understand their effects on the final size spectra of droplets. Furthermore, a rigorous error analysis is carried out to understand the relative importance of these effects on the final spectra of droplets\/aerosols. We find that these are vital parameters to determine the final spectra of droplets, which govern the broadening of the size spectra. Typically, broadening the size spectra of droplets\/aerosols increases the probability of the virus-laden droplets\/aerosols and thus could affect the transmission of infection in the ambient atmosphere.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0073563","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,19]],"date-time":"2021-11-19T11:35:54Z","timestamp":1637321754000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Mixing at the interface of the sneezing\/coughing phenomena and its effect on viral loading"],"prefix":"10.1063","volume":"33","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6520-5937","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chandra Shekhar","family":"Pant","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology 1 , Haifa,","place":["Israel"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6104-286X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sumit","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology 2 , Rourkela,","place":["India"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abhimanyu","family":"Gavasane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, B.M.S. College of Engineering 3 , Bengaluru,","place":["India"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"317","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025052817065261400_c1","unstructured":"See https:\/\/coronavirus.jhu.edu\/map.html, for \u201cTotal deaths\u201d (last accessed September 8, 2021)."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c2","unstructured":"See https:\/\/www.who.int\/en\/activities\/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants\/, for \u201cVariants of concern\u201d (last accessed September 8, 2021)."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2271-3","article-title":"Aerodynamic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in two Wuhan hospitals","volume":"582","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"F2","DOI":"10.1017\/jfm.2020.330","article-title":"The flow physics of COVID-19","volume":"894","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Fluid Mech."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"053310","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0011960","article-title":"On coughing and airborne droplet transmission to humans","volume":"32","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"021901","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0037640","article-title":"Fluid dynamics and epidemiology: Seasonality and transmission dynamics","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"097102","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0022859","article-title":"Transmission of airborne virus through sneezed and coughed droplets","volume":"32","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"061704","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0012009","article-title":"Likelihood of survival of coronavirus in a respiratory droplet deposited on a solid surface","volume":"32","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"128297","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chemosphere.2020.128297","article-title":"COVID-19 and air pollution and meteorology-an intricate relationship: A review","volume":"263","year":"2021","journal-title":"Chemosphere"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0238339","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0238339","article-title":"Effects of temperature and humidity on the spread of COVID-19: A systematic review","volume":"15","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110184","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envres.2020.110184","article-title":"How socio-economic and atmospheric variables impact COVID-19 and influenza outbreaks in tropical and subtropical regions of brazil","volume":"191","year":"2020","journal-title":"Environ. Res."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1061","DOI":"10.1080\/10962247.2020.1823763","article-title":"Is the transmission of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) weather dependent?","volume":"70","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1007\/s12046-021-01712-2","article-title":"Effect of humidity on the evolution of COVID-19 droplets distribution in extreme in-homogeneous environment","volume":"46","year":"2021","journal-title":"S\u0101dhan\u0101"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"617","DOI":"10.1007\/s41403-020-00177-9","article-title":"Sanitization during and after COVID-19 pandemic: A short review","volume":"5","year":"2020","journal-title":"Trans. Indian Nat. Acad. Eng."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"021701","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0037924","article-title":"Why coronavirus survives longer on impermeable than porous surfaces","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"052101","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0049404","article-title":"Designing antiviral surfaces to suppress the spread of COVID-19","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"072004","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0057045","article-title":"Insight on the evaporation dynamics in reducing the COVID-19 infection triggered by respiratory droplets","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"031704","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0041596","article-title":"Probability of COVID-19 infection by cough of a normal person and a super-spreader","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"033311","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0039559","article-title":"Transmission and evaporation of cough droplets in an elevator: Numerical simulations of some possible scenarios","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"063309","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0015984","article-title":"Modeling the role of respiratory droplets in COVID-19 type pandemics","volume":"32","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1007\/s41403-020-00106-w","article-title":"Understanding transmission dynamics of COVID-19-type infections by direct numerical simulations of cough\/sneeze flows","volume":"5","year":"2020","journal-title":"Trans. Indian Nat. Acad. Eng."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101704","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0029186","article-title":"Reducing chances of COVID-19 infection by a cough cloud in a closed space","volume":"32","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101701","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0064104","article-title":"Effect of co-flow on fluid dynamics of a cough jet with implications in spread of COVID-19","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105107","DOI":"10.1063\/1.5049457","article-title":"Evaluation of an energy consistent entrainment model for volumetrically forced jets using large eddy simulations","volume":"30","year":"2018","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c25","article-title":"Validation of a one dimensional model for volumetrically forced jets using large eddy simulations","year":"2017"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.compfluid.2016.05.019","article-title":"A viscous sponge layer formulation for robust large eddy simulation of thermal plumes","volume":"134\u2013135","year":"2016","journal-title":"Comput. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"677","DOI":"10.3390\/pr8060677","article-title":"Accuracy assessment of rans predictions of active flow control for hydrofoil cavitation","volume":"8","year":"2020","journal-title":"Processes"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c28","first-page":"741","article-title":"Counterflow injection studies for hypersonic flow fields","year":"2012"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c29","first-page":"239","article-title":"Application of sponge boundary conditions to large-eddy simulation of multiple thermal plumes","year":"2017"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"484","DOI":"10.1089\/jam.2007.0610","article-title":"The size and concentration of droplets generated by coughing in human subjects","volume":"20","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Aerosol Med."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"651","DOI":"10.1164\/rccm.202004-1263PP","article-title":"Coughs and sneezes: Their role in transmission of respiratory viral infections, including sars-cov-2","volume":"202","year":"2020","journal-title":"Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1080\/15459624.2012.684582","article-title":"Quantity and size distribution of cough-generated aerosol particles produced by influenza patients during and after illness","volume":"9","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Occup. Environ. Hyg."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20130560","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2013.0560","article-title":"Characterizations of particle size distribution of the droplets exhaled by sneeze","volume":"10","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. R. Soc. Interface"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"S703","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2009.0388.focus","article-title":"Exhaled droplets due to talking and coughing","volume":"6","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. R. Soc. Interface"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"840","DOI":"10.4209\/aaqr.2018.01.0031","article-title":"Quantity, size distribution, and characteristics of cough-generated aerosol produced by patients with an upper respiratory tract infection","volume":"19","year":"2019","journal-title":"Aerosol Air Qual. Res."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"033307","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0042474","article-title":"Airborne transmission of virus-laden aerosols inside a music classroom: Effects of portable purifiers and aerosol injection rates","volume":"33","year":"2021","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c37","article-title":"The infectious nature of patient-generated SARS-CoV-2 aerosol","year":"2020"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1177","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMc2001737","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 viral load in upper respiratory specimens of infected patients","volume":"382","year":"2020","journal-title":"New England J. Med."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0135675","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0135675","article-title":"Concentration, size distribution, and infectivity of airborne particles carrying swine viruses","volume":"10","year":"2015","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"21174","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-78110-x","article-title":"Size distribution of virus laden droplets from expiratory ejecta of infected subjects","volume":"10","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2564","DOI":"10.1175\/JAS-D-13-0294.1","article-title":"Lagrangian mixing dynamics at the cloudy\u2013clear air interface","volume":"71","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9273\u20139297","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-16-9273-2016","article-title":"Theoretical analysis of mixing in liquid clouds\u2013part 3: Inhomogeneous mixing","volume":"16","year":"2016","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.piutam.2015.04.007","article-title":"The effect of initial droplet size spectra on its evolution during turbulent condensational growth","volume":"15","year":"2015","journal-title":"Procedia IUTAM"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c44","unstructured":"See https:\/\/grabcad.com\/library\/human-face-4\/ for \u201cLibrary\/human face\u201d (last accessed September 20, 2021)."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c45","volume-title":"Microphysics of Clouds and Precipitation: Reprinted 1980","year":"2012"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1945","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0469(2001)058&lt;1945:MATCDG&gt;2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Microscopic approach to cloud droplet growth by condensation. Part i: Model description and results without turbulence","volume":"58","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"361","DOI":"10.1007\/s00162-012-0272-z","article-title":"Cloud microphysical effects of turbulent mixing and entrainment","volume":"27","year":"2013","journal-title":"Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2279","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.48.2279","article-title":"Stochastic generation of homogeneous isotropic turbulence with well-defined spectra","volume":"48","year":"1993","journal-title":"Phys. Rev. E"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1078","DOI":"10.1063\/1.869201","article-title":"Langevin approach to generate synthetic turbulent flows","volume":"9","year":"1997","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"113301","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0026360","article-title":"Dispersion of evaporating cough droplets in tropical outdoor environment","volume":"32","year":"2020","journal-title":"Phys. Fluids"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e59970","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0059970","article-title":"Airflow dynamics of human jets: Sneezing and breathing-potential sources of infectious aerosols","volume":"8","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"537","DOI":"10.1017\/jfm.2014.88","article-title":"Violent expiratory events: On coughing and sneezing","volume":"745","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Fluid Mech."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"207","DOI":"10.1186\/s40623-018-0979-1","article-title":"Turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rates estimated from concurrent UAV and MU radar measurements","volume":"70","year":"2018","journal-title":"Earth, Planets Space"},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"122","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaerosci.2008.10.003","article-title":"Characterization of expiration air jets and droplet size distributions immediately at the mouth opening","volume":"40","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Aerosol Sci."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"200468","DOI":"10.4209\/aaqr.200468","article-title":"Aerosol particles generated by coughing and sneezing of a sars-cov-2 (covid-19) host travel over 30 m distance","volume":"21","year":"2021","journal-title":"Aerosol Air Qual. Res."},{"key":"2025052817065261400_c56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2957","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0469(2003)060&lt;2957:SOWVIC&gt;2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Supersaturation of water vapor in clouds","volume":"60","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."}],"container-title":["Physics of Fluids"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/aip\/pof\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1063\/5.0073563\/20535731\/115129_1_5.0073563.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/aip\/pof\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1063\/5.0073563\/20535731\/115129_1_5.0073563.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,28]],"date-time":"2025-05-28T21:19:30Z","timestamp":1748467170000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/pubs.aip.org\/pof\/article\/33\/11\/115129\/1063804\/Mixing-at-the-interface-of-the-sneezing-coughing"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,1]]},"references-count":56,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/5.0073563","relation":{},"ISSN":["1070-6631","1089-7666"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1070-6631","type":"print"},{"value":"1089-7666","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[2021,11]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,1]]},"article-number":"115129"}}