Research Projects

Model that connects respiratory droplet physics with the evolution of a pandemic. The model has two parts. First, we model the growth rate of the infected population based on a reaction mechanism. The infection rate constant is derived using collision rate theory and shown to be a function of the respiratory droplet lifetime. In the second part, emulated the respiratory droplets responsible for disease transmission as salt solution droplets and computed their evaporation time, accounting for droplet cooling, heat and mass transfer, and finally, crystallization of the dissolved salt. The multi-scale model thus developed and the firm theoretical underpinning that connects the two scales—macro-scale pandemic dynamics and micro-scale droplet physics—thus could emerge as a powerful tool in elucidating the role of environmental factors on infection spread through respiratory droplets.