Effect of an accelerating metro cabin on the diffusion of cough droplets

Coronaviruses being capable of spreading through droplet contamination have raised significant concerns regarding high-capacity public rail transport, such as the metro. Within a rapidly moving railcar cabin, the internal airflow lags behind the bulkhead, generating internally induced airflow that accelerates droplet dispersion within a non-inertial reference system. This study investigates the impact of acceleration on the diffusion of cough droplets of varying sizes using computational fluid dynamics. The modified k-ε equation in ANSYS® Fluent was utilized to simulate droplet diffusion under different body orientations by adjusting the inertial force correction source term. Results indicate that droplets in the middle size range (50-175 μm) are primarily influenced by inertial forces, whereas smaller droplets (3.5-20 μm) are predominantly controlled by air drag forces. Regardless of facial orientation, the outlet of high-capacity public rail transport poses the highest risk of infection.