Romania took hold of my heart in 2015 and since then has consumed my mind and soul. As with any genuine commitment, my relationship with this beautiful, complex country has grown and deepened over time as I have learned of its many tragedies, as well as its many triumphs. I have surrendered myself to Romania. [...] As I continue my Romanian journey, I marvel over the resiliency and fortitude of the people. I am fortunate to have developed close relationships, familial in many ways, with many Romanians. And I am eternally grateful to have been granted a Fulbright and honored to become part of this amazing community.
Fulbright Alumnus Studies the Aerodynamics of Human Breath through Medical Masks in the Context of SARS-COV-2 Pandemic
“During these difficult times I felt that it was my duty to try and contribute to the best of my skills and knowledge to the unique challenges posed by the ongoing SARS-COV-2 pandemic. Combining the expertise I gained as an aerospace engineer at Georgia Institute of Technology and my PhD research knowledge on optical diagnostics (Colorado State University), I decided to build a Schlieren interferometer that enables us to better understand the aerodynamics of human breath through medical masks. Primarily, this device allows us to visualize the flow of air currents that are otherwise invisible to the human eye. This is achieved through the process of light diffraction. We use this setup to determine the air currents speed, flow regime (laminar or turbulent), distance of air stream propagation in the surrounding and flow vorticity of human exhaled air during breathing, speaking and coughing in two cases: with and without wearing a mask. Our findings have shown so far that wearing a mask properly significantly decreases the exhaled air speed (by a factor 10) and efficiently redirects it upwards. The combine effect is that the social distance can be greatly reduced while wearing a mask.” – Ciprian Dumitrache, scientific researcher at the National Institute for Lasers, Plasma & Radiation Physics (INFLPR), former Fulbright Student at Georgia Institute of Technology.
The experiment was presented at the European Researcher’s Night (event supported by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 program) on 27th November 2020.
An experimental demonstration ca be found at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS-1jEVjsVQ&t=3s
An extended interview regarding this experiment is available at Radio Romania Cultural: https://radioromaniacultural.ro/stiinta-360-doremi-ro-sau-noaptea-europeana-a-cercetatorilor-doing-research-at-midnight-in-romania-23-noiembrie-2020/