Design of Air Curtains for Isolation of the Air Pollutant Transport in Aircraft Cabins

The outbreak of respiratory infections in recent years has given us a sharp reminder of the importance of controlling the air pollutant transport in aircraft cabins. However, currently no effective strategies have been applied to commercial aircraft cabins. Several studies optimized the air-supply parameters of the environmental control systems in cabins, in order to inhabit the spread of the inside pollutant. But the personnel movements often broke the designed airflow patterns, leading to unsatisfactory effects. This study concentrates on applying air curtains to aircraft cabins, in order to better prevent the spread of the air pollutant in the breathing zones of passengers; the air-supply velocity of the proposed air curtains is optimized by CFD as well, to satisfy the design targets which include mean age of air and air velocity near passengers. Results show that the designed air curtains are able to inhibit the transport of air pollutant in breathing zones by both improving the air distribution and accelerating the fresh air flows in aircraft cabins. In addition, the air-supply velocity of the air curtains is also solved to meet the design targets. Efficient optimization of air-supply parameters for the inlets of air curtains in aircraft cabins requires further exploration.