Hama, Sarkawt, Kumar, Prashant, Cheung, Ho Yin Wickson, Emygdio, Ana Paula Mendes, Ewer, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0609-272X, Wang, Zhaozhi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8986-0554, Galea, Edwin R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0001-6665, Grandison, Angus ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9714-1605, Jia, Fuchen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1850-7961, Siilin, Niko and Lepore, Pierfrancesco (2025) Exhaled CO2 and aerosol dispersion on a cruise ship: airflow and infection risk insights. Science of the Total Environment, 1010:181112. ISSN 0048-9697 (Print), 1879-1026 (Online) (doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.181112)

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Abstract

Understanding airborne pathogen transmission in cruise ship environments remains a critical challenge due to the confined nature of indoor spaces, high occupancy, and limited access for real-world experimentation. This study addresses the gap in empirical data on particulate matter and CO2 dynamics aboard operational cruise
ships, providing a high-resolution dataset that can be used for the validation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models and informing infection probability risk assessments. An experimental trial was designed for two mechanically ventilated cruise ship rooms (R01, R02), instrumented at ten locations under eight ventilation
scenarios: R01 with 100 % (S1a) and 50 % (S1b) design flow rates; R02 with 100 % (S2a), 50 % (S2b) and 10 % (S2c) design flow rates; R01 with high aerosol rate and 50 % flow rate (S3); and R01 with an air purifier at maximum (S4a, 1300 m3 h-1) and minimum (S4b, 422 m3 h-1) clean air delivery rate (CADR). A live UK-EU cruise hosted the experimental trial. Particulate matter and CO2 concentration, temperature and relative humidity were collected using portable sensors to build a unique dataset to validate subsequent computational modelling of aerosol dispersion, infection probability and transmission prevention, mitigation and management
(PMM) approaches in arbitrary passenger ship spaces. As expected, PM and CO2 were markedly reduced under 100 % design flow ventilation compared with 50 %. Maximum PM2.5 reductions were 84 % during background, 29 % in build-up, and 72 % in decay experimental phases. An air purifier further reduced particulate matter, with peak PM reductions of 57 % (PM10), 48 % (PM2.5), and 45 % (PM1). These findings offer practical guidance for optimising air quality management strategies in cruise ships and other high-occupancy spaces, besides providing a crucial high-resolution dataset for validating numerical modelling. Moreover, this study provides valuable insights into mechanically ventilated shipboard airflow behaviour.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a collaborative paper with the University of Surrey and the Finnish research laboratory VTT. It is part of an EU funded Horizon Europe project.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	airborne transmission, CO2, large cruise ship, ventilation, Aerosol dispersion
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QA Mathematics Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > School of Computing & Mathematical Sciences (CMS)
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2025 10:11
URI:	https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/52009

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