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Abstract

To quantify the fate of respiratory droplets under different ambient relative humidities, direct numerical
simulations of a typical respiratory event are performed.We found that, because small droplets (with initial
diameter of 10 μm) are swept by turbulent eddies in the expelled humid puff, their lifetime gets extended by
a factor of more than 30 times as compared to what is suggested by the classical picture by Wells, for 50%
relative humidity. With increasing ambient relative humidity the extension of the lifetimes of the small
droplets further increases and goes up to around 150 times for 90% relative humidity, implying more than
2 m advection range of the respiratory droplets within 1 sec. Employing Lagrangian statistics, we
demonstrate that the turbulent humid respiratory puff engulfs the small droplets, leading to many orders of
magnitude increase in their lifetimes, implying that they can be transported much further during the
respiratory events than the large ones. Our findings provide the starting points for larger parameter studies
and may be instructive for developing strategies on optimizing ventilation and indoor humidity control.
Such strategies are key in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in the present autumn and upcoming winter.