Abstract

The
Royal Society initiative to provide Rapid Assistance in Modelling the Pandemic
(RAMP) has garnered a large number of scientists across the UK working
voluntarily in a wide range of issues associated with the current pandemic. In
this talk I will describe the outputs of the fifty odd scientists with
expertise, broadly speaking, in fluid mechanics who have been considering
aspects of the airborne transmission of the virus. Post lockdown major risks of
infection are associated with occupancy of public buildings such as
restaurants, schools, and other places where people congregate indoors, and in
public transportation. I will describe what we have learnt over the past couple
of months about the impact of building ventilation, the deposition of droplets,
modes of exhalation and inhalation and other factors such as the effects of
occupancy levels and the movement of people in these indoor environments, and
what seem to be the key outstanding questions.