How effective wearing face mask ? | The world fastest supercomputer simulation

October 21, 2020

How effective wearing face mask ? | The world fastest supercomputer simulation

The Japanese supercomputer, Fugaku, which is the world fastest, can perform more than 415 quadrillion computations a second, conducted simulations involving three types of mask, and found that non-woven fabric masks were better than those made of cotton and polyester at blocking spray emitted when the wearer coughs, but the simulation results show the effectiveness for the other two type of the masks as well. The study was shown by Makoto Tsubokura, lead researcher of Riken and professor of Kobe University.

When wearing non-woven fabric mask, most of droplets emitted in a cough, all the three types which simulated, stopped at least about 80% of spray, which make masks effective and slowing the spread of cronavirus

The highest risk - No mask wearing
"Even if weather is hot, in order to reduce the risk from virus, it is very important to wear a mask, even a less-effective cloth one." Makoto Tsubokura, a team leader at Riken's Center for Computational Science said.

The nonwoven masks did allow more than 10% of droplets measuring 20 microns or less in diameter to escape through gaps between the fabric and the face, the computer model showed。。

Although polyester and cotton masks allowed up to 40% of these droplets to pass through, as their fibers are spaced more widely than those of nonwoven fabric. One micron equals one millionth of a meter.

The team also modeled the effectiveness of face shields in blocking a cough by the wearer. Though droplets of 50 microns or more stuck to the inner surface of the shield, those 20 microns or smaller were able to escape through gaps.