Numerical investigation of the influence of furniture and equipment as regards to the air movement inside a surgical room

• Grant number: 18/21230-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2018
• End date: May 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Civil Engineering - Construction Industry
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Akira Kurokawa
• Grantee: Gabriel Manetti de Menezes
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a resource that provides alternatives to investigate the airflow inside a surgical room. For many years, these resources have been projecting tools for air distribution systems in buildings. In addition, CFD simulation has become common in the process of layout definition of surgical rooms, whereas it makes possible to predict the air and temperature distribution prior to its construction. It helps to support the decision-making and optimize the performance of ventilation systems. However, the use of CFD simulation tools to analyze airflow in these environments outcomes in a very laborious and time-consuming modeling. In CFD simulations, basic items such as surgical table and focus, spotlights and anesthesia machine are considered, with disregard of furniture and remaining equipment. Neglecting these objects in the modeling may lead to a different air movement and temperature distribution inside the room, compromising the performance analysis of the ventilation system. The reason that many of these objects are ignored during the modeling process is related to the fact that they cause a significant increase in the required time to model and process the simulations. Based on this context, the present work aims to investigate, through CFD simulation, the influence of furniture and equipment on the airflow inside a surgical room, which has an insufflation system given by a ceiling diffuser.