When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, IIT-Bombay Professor Rajneesh Bhardwaj was studying how droplets were emptied for applications in spray cooling and inkjet printing, and his colleague Amit Agarwal works on point-of-care medical devices and electronic cooling.
But once it became clear that the pandemic was spreading through cough and sneezing aerosols from infected people, the two began applying their knowledge to understand the evacuation of respiratory droplets from the surface and the spread of cough clouds. .
“Our plans were to continue in the field of thermal and fluid engineering. However, the pandemic came as an opportunity to diversify and explore other areas of research. We were thinking of our experience expand and apply a number of unanswered questions in the context of Covid-19, “Agrawal, Institute Chair Professor from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT-Bombay, told PTI.
Bhardwaj and Agrawal, both experts in the field of fluid mechanics, said their understanding of the movement of liquids helped them model how the novel coronavirus spread.
“Air and water are the most common filters, and also the behavior of most viruses and bacteria, it is not surprising that the subject plays an important role in understanding and managing the disease. normal distribution, “Bhardwaj told PTI.
Several studies, over the Covid-19 pandemic, have applied mechanical principles to provide scores of important insights into the distance over which breathing drops of different sizes travel, the safe distance between people, and the effectiveness of different types of masks in reducing the movement of contaminated droplets.
Scientists also studied the process by which larger droplets became infected and then showered to turn into microdroplets called aerosols.
“During this process, large droplets settle on the ground after a short distance of flight while the smallest remain in the air for a longer period of time creating aerosolas,” explained Saptarshi Basu, from the Institute of Science. Indian (IISc), Bengaluru.
“In short, the whole story about droplets leading to diseases is a fluid dynamics problem,” Basu, Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, told PTI.
Two studies by Basu and his team, both published in the journal Physics of Fluids, involved fluid dynamics tests to show how the respiratory droplets dry out and form aerosols, and how virus particles are distributed in them.
According to the IISc scientist, factors such as human mask wearing behavior, social distance, population density, and movement of individuals contribute significantly to the level of infection and depth in an area.
However, he believes that some of the key contributors include how respiratory droplets empty after discharge, how far they travel, and how which they scatter.
“All of the above governs controlling how human beings can infect infections and other routines as a safe distance for social distance,” said Basu, who has been studying the physics of droplets. in applications from 3D printing, surface patterning, combing, and biochemical engineering.
As economies slowly opened up around the world after locksmiths, and travel restrictions diminished, scientists and engineers also deployed mechanical devices to spread light on the internal spread of the coronavirus.
Scientists, led by Verghese Mathai of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA, performed computer simulations to understand the aerosol distribution of the coronavirus inside car cabins.
“I had gained business experience with this particular type of computer dynamics mobile computing while in India, and my suggestion to use these simulations was largely motivated by the fact that we were able to do tests because of stay – at – home orders, and the pandemic situation demanded results with a short turnaround time, “Mathai said.
The scientists could quickly use principles to test currents inside an airplane engine and recommend the safest way to prevent the spread of Covid-19 when people travel in cars in a study published in the journal Science.
“This is a great example of how pandemic has prompted researchers to revisit their support skills and come together to work on an important topic,” said Mathai.
“So this simulation can be extended to trains or buses and we can answer important questions about airflow and aerosol type of grains. We can also look into confined buildings, or long queues of people and how pathogen-laden air currents around them may weaken. , “he said.
Several studies, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, helped predict how the virus spreads at different conditions, such as temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, and humidity.
“These predictions allowed us to identify critical conditions for virus spread,” explained Douglas Fontes of the University of Central Florida in the USA.
“Because the models represent the real onions better, we can use them to determine better safety measures for specific conditions, people, and type of disease,” Fontes told PTI.
According to Fontes, future simulations could detail the physical properties of mucus, tight structures within respiratory systems, and how they interact with each other.
“The better our knowledge of the biological properties of disease-carrying respiratory events, the better we will be able to accurately model the spread of disease through the spread of disease. droplet is happening, “he said.