Aerodynamic Drag and Heat Transfer Corrections for Dehydrated Pollen Particles: CFD-Based Modeling of Airborne Allergen Transport in Smart Urban Environments

Abstract

Airborne pollen transport is a key concern for urban air-quality assessment, allergy-risk forecasting, and smart-city planning. However, conventional dispersion models generally assume smooth spherical particles, neglecting how pollen dehydration alters particle morphology and impacts aerodynamic and thermal behavior. To address this gap, this study presents, for the first time, advanced CFD simulations evaluating the aerodynamic drag forces and convective heat transfer of realistically dehydrated (dry) pollen particles. Investigations are conducted at Reynolds numbers ($0.1 \leq Re_p \leq 15$) at the particle's scale corresponding to realistic atmospheric wind speeds ranging from 0.27 to 30 km/h. The findings reveal that dry pollen particles exhibit drag coefficients 8% to 15% higher than those predicted for hydrated pollen spherical particles. Conversely, their Nusselt numbers are 5% to 15% lower than those for hydrated pollen particles. These considerable deviations confirm that conventional spherical correlations are inadequate for simulating dry pollen Lagrangian transport and evaporation. These findings highlight the need to account for realistic dehydrated shapes when modeling airborne allergen transport in urban environments.