04/16/2021
By Sokny Long

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, invites you to attend a Master’s thesis defense by Arielle Joasil on “Simulating the space-time trajectory of respiratory droplets and aerosols.”

MSE Candidate: Arielle Joasil
Defense Date: Friday, April 23, 2021
Time: 4 - 5 p.m. EST
Location: This will be a virtual defense via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact Arielle_Joasil@student.uml.edu and committee advisor Kavitha_Chandra@uml.edu at least 24 hours prior to the defense to request access to the meeting.

Committee Chair (Advisor): Kavitha Chandra, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Electrical Engineering, UMass Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Charles Thompson, Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Joshua Levy, Adjunct Professor, Operations and Information Systems, UMass Lowell

Brief Abstract:

Air-borne droplets expelled during human speech have long been a source of transmitting viruses to the surrounding environment. Research on this topic has surged since the advent of COVID-19 in early 2020 and it is now understood that respiratory droplets are the primary mode of transmission of this disease from person-to-person. The Centers for Disease Control in the United States has recommended maintaining a minimum distance of six feet between people with the assumption that droplets settle on objects and surfaces within this recommended distance. The influence of smaller particles referred to as aerosols that tend to linger in the air and in poorly ventilated spaces on transmissibility at shorter ranges is
being investigated. In this research, first a review of pertinent models of the transport of particles emitted during speech and with various degrees of loudness is undertaken. This includes a description of what is known with regard to the size distribution of droplets that are generated during talking, coughing or sneezing.

The simulation of the trajectory of droplets in time as determined by their velocity and position is carried out considering the effect of drag, buoyancy and gravitational forces applied to Newton's second law of motion. Both linearized and the non-linear drag force effects are considered. Of particular interest is the resultant distribution of the spatial locations across which the particles settle at specific surface heights and time. The thesis also provides a comprehensive survey of the sources of data related to COVID-19 that are available in the public domain.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend the online defense via remote access.