A disseminação de agentes infecciosos em ambientes interiores é um assunto de interesse da sociedade em geral e uma questão de saúde pública, tendo em vista os surtos recentes do vírus SARS, gripe suína, gripe aviária, etc. Em particular, o sistema com suprimento de ar individualizado têm se mostrado eficaz, atuando como barreira contra contaminação cruzada entre ocupantes. Diversas metodologias têm sido aplicadas nesses estudos, tal como gás traçador, geradores de partículas e simulação CFD, muitas vezes sem muito critério, ou com equipamentos e simulações excessivamente complexas. Neste contexto, o objetivo do presente trabalho é desenvolver um processo robusto e com menor complexidade do que os utilizados atualmente para avaliar a dispersão de contaminantes aéreos em ambientes interiores. O processo desenvolvido é aplicado em um estudo de caso onde a influência de um sistema de ventilação personalizado de cabine de aeronave é avaliado sobre a ótica da infecção cruzada. O trabalho contempla a realização de atividades de simulação computacional (CFD) e medições experimentais no ambiente interno de uma cabine de avião (mock-up), onde os campos de velocidade do ar são medidos com Velocimetria por Imagem de Partículas (PIV), partículas entre 2 e 10m são geradas com um gerador de aerossol e contadas com contadores ópticos portáteis. Obteve-se boa correlação entre os resultados numéricos e experimentais para o campo de velocidades e boa concordância qualitativa entre as contagens de partículas no experimento e nas simulações CFD Lagrangeanas. Observou-se, dentre outros aspectos, que a válvula gasper, tal como ensaiada no presente trabalho, contribui para a qualidade do ar na zona de respiração dos ocupantes sentados, promovendo um aumento nas taxas de deposição de partículas nas superfícies internas do mock-up. / The indoor dispersion of infections agents still concern the society, and has become a matter of public health, taken into account the outbreak of SARS in 2003, and the recent cases of influenza strains (H1N1, avian flu, SARS, etc). The use of personalized ventilation has improved the occupants\' air quality on recent evaluations, working as a contaminant spread barrier. Different kinds of methodologies are usually applied for those studies, such as tracer gas, particle generators and CFD simulations, sometimes without adequate criteria, or applying quite complex equipment and simulation methodologies such as transient analysis. Therefore, the main objective of the present work is to develop a robust method, and if possible less complicated than the current ones, to evaluate the dispersion of indoor airborne contaminants. Moreover, one\'s intend to apply the proposed method in a case study to evaluate the influence of a personalized ventilation system to the spread of indoor air contaminants. The study is composed by CFD simulations and experimental measurements inside an aircraft cabin mock-up, where the velocity and temperature field, as well as particle concentration are measured. Particle Image Velocimetry technique is used to analyse air flow velocities. Particles from 2 to 10µm are produced with aerosol generator and injected into the cabine. Finally, particle distributions are measured with hand held optical counters to evaluate air quality at the breathing zone. Good correlation between numerical and experimental results was obtained for velocity field, and adequate qualitative agreement was obtained for concentration field. One\'s conclude the investigated personalized ventilation system has improved the air quality around occupants breathing zone, mainly by increasing the deposition rates at the internal cabin surfaces.

Clothing directly affects the level of heat stress exposure. Useful measures to express the thermal characteristics are WBGT (wet bulb globe temperature) clothing adjustment factor (CAF) or apparent total evaporative resistance (Re,T,a). The CAF is assigned through laboratory wear trials following a heat stress protocol in which the air temperature and humidity are progressively increased until the participant clearly loses the ability to maintain thermal equilibrium. The critical condition is the point of thermal transition and from these conditions both the CAF and Re,T,a are computed. The first objective of this study is to compare the thermal characteristics of a coverall made from a prototype fabric to work clothes and a commercial limited-use coverall using CAF and Re,T,a. A second objective is to demonstrate that the Re,T,a of work clothes is the same for progressive or steady-state heat stress protocols. Five participants (4 men and 1 woman) walked on a treadmill at 1.25 m/s at an average metabolic rate of 175 W/m2. Each participant completed at least one progressive heat stress protocols in work clothes, Tyvek® 1422A coveralls [Tyvek® is a registered trademark of DuPont], and a developmental nonwoven polyolefin prototype ensemble provided by DuPont. In addition, four participants completed steady-state protocol in work clothes. Participants did not complete an acclimation period prior to the trials and each trail was separated by at least 40 hours. There are no within participant differences in metabolic rate among ensembles and protocols. There are no differences between the critical WBGT in the current participants and previously acclimatized participants from other studies suggesting that the participants responded as if they were acclimatized. Based on a mixed effects model, there are significant differences between work clothes and Tyvek® 1422A for Re,T,a (0.0103 and 0.0141 m2/W kPa, respectively) and critical WBGT. The CAF for Tyvek is 2.3 °C-WBGT. For the DuPont prototype ensemble, the apparent total evaporative resistance is 0.013 m2kPa/W and the CAF is 0.5 °C. The prototype ensemble shows no difference from work clothes or Tyvek® 1422A in critical WBGT and no difference from work clothes in Re,T,a. Overall, the prototype coveralls exhibited thermal characteristics that would have a lower level of heat stress than the Tyvek 1422A and not significantly different from work clothes. The values for Re,T,a for work clothes were not different between the steady state and progressive protocols. The steady-state protocol near the critical condition can be used for determination of Re,T,a. This opens up the possibility of estimating Re,T,a from studies that do not use the progressive protocol.

A disseminação de agentes infecciosos em ambientes interiores é um assunto de interesse da sociedade em geral e uma questão de saúde pública, tendo em vista os surtos recentes do vírus SARS, gripe suína, gripe aviária, etc. Em particular, o sistema com suprimento de ar individualizado têm se mostrado eficaz, atuando como barreira contra contaminação cruzada entre ocupantes. Diversas metodologias têm sido aplicadas nesses estudos, tal como gás traçador, geradores de partículas e simulação CFD, muitas vezes sem muito critério, ou com equipamentos e simulações excessivamente complexas. Neste contexto, o objetivo do presente trabalho é desenvolver um processo robusto e com menor complexidade do que os utilizados atualmente para avaliar a dispersão de contaminantes aéreos em ambientes interiores. O processo desenvolvido é aplicado em um estudo de caso onde a influência de um sistema de ventilação personalizado de cabine de aeronave é avaliado sobre a ótica da infecção cruzada. O trabalho contempla a realização de atividades de simulação computacional (CFD) e medições experimentais no ambiente interno de uma cabine de avião (mock-up), onde os campos de velocidade do ar são medidos com Velocimetria por Imagem de Partículas (PIV), partículas entre 2 e 10m são geradas com um gerador de aerossol e contadas com contadores ópticos portáteis. Obteve-se boa correlação entre os resultados numéricos e experimentais para o campo de velocidades e boa concordância qualitativa entre as contagens de partículas no experimento e nas simulações CFD Lagrangeanas. Observou-se, dentre outros aspectos, que a válvula gasper, tal como ensaiada no presente trabalho, contribui para a qualidade do ar na zona de respiração dos ocupantes sentados, promovendo um aumento nas taxas de deposição de partículas nas superfícies internas do mock-up. / The indoor dispersion of infections agents still concern the society, and has become a matter of public health, taken into account the outbreak of SARS in 2003, and the recent cases of influenza strains (H1N1, avian flu, SARS, etc). The use of personalized ventilation has improved the occupants\' air quality on recent evaluations, working as a contaminant spread barrier. Different kinds of methodologies are usually applied for those studies, such as tracer gas, particle generators and CFD simulations, sometimes without adequate criteria, or applying quite complex equipment and simulation methodologies such as transient analysis. Therefore, the main objective of the present work is to develop a robust method, and if possible less complicated than the current ones, to evaluate the dispersion of indoor airborne contaminants. Moreover, one\'s intend to apply the proposed method in a case study to evaluate the influence of a personalized ventilation system to the spread of indoor air contaminants. The study is composed by CFD simulations and experimental measurements inside an aircraft cabin mock-up, where the velocity and temperature field, as well as particle concentration are measured. Particle Image Velocimetry technique is used to analyse air flow velocities. Particles from 2 to 10µm are produced with aerosol generator and injected into the cabine. Finally, particle distributions are measured with hand held optical counters to evaluate air quality at the breathing zone. Good correlation between numerical and experimental results was obtained for velocity field, and adequate qualitative agreement was obtained for concentration field. One\'s conclude the investigated personalized ventilation system has improved the air quality around occupants breathing zone, mainly by increasing the deposition rates at the internal cabin surfaces.