SPP Office Helps Connect Local Industry with Brookhaven Lab to Fight COVID

December 2, 2021

Partnering with local company Daniel Penn Associates, which specializes in air quality and OSHA standards, Brookhaven researchers recently studied scientifically verified indoor air quality solutions to combat viruses, particularly COVID-19, using funds from the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions COVID Technical Assistance Program (CTAP).

Controls on airborne transmission may reduce the number of virus-laden particles inhaled by a susceptible person, but the efficacy of any given control depends on factors that are inherently variable and, often, poorly constrained. Models well-suited for simulating the evolution of respiratory particles in indoor spaces are often computationally expensive, limiting their ability to represent uncertainty.

To optimize strategies for curbing the transmission of airborne pathogens, the efficacy of three key controls - face masks, ventilation, and physical distancing - must be well understood. Recent studies led to the development of the highly efficient Quadrature-based model of Respiratory Aerosol and Droplets (QuaRAD) to quantify the efficacy of controls across thousands of scenarios that represent the tremendous variability in factors governing airborne transmission.

This successful CTAP-funded collaboration was one component of an extensive set of partnerships between the Department of Energy National Laboratories and industry to combat the worst pandemic in recent memory.

2021-19289  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom