A Simplified Numerical Model for Simulating Sliding Door and Surgical Staff Movement in an Operating Theatre

This paper deals with a numerical investigation on sliding door and people moving effects on the indoor climate of a standard ISO5 class OT with an ultraclean air filter system and a total ceiling unidirectional diffuser. A simple method to analyze the effects on the OT climate by different sliding door conditions combined with crossing persons and persons with a stretcher crossing is provided. The proposed procedure consists in defining some user-defined logical functions in COMSOL Multiphysics models. Results, obtained for different typical cases, show a strong influence of the surgery staff movements and sliding door opening/closing on the internal flow patterns and in static pressure variation inside the OT also. These effects are related to the operating conditions of HVAC plant system, allowing to carry-out important predictions on the effects on ventilation system working conditions. Our proposed method indicates the opportunity of simulating the influence of objects movement in a fluid -filled space using a relatively simple CFD model