Hilversum, Netherlands
Operating theatre Tergooi
CFD study of an OR in use for an optimal design
Tergooi hospital is located in the centre of The Netherlands and is planning new built at its location in Hilversum. Part of this new built is a complex of operating theatres. A very important question raised when engineering an operating theatre is how to design the best possible air flow system. Because this air flow system is one of the key parts in the prevention of post-operative infection.
Case details
The challenge
In an early design stage it’s very costly and time-consuming to perform in-situ measurements in mock-up systems. CFD however, can be used as a digital representative of the future situation to test the performance of different systems and setups. This therefore saves costs, time and it can provide in depth understanding of flow phenomena inside the room.
Tergooi asked Actiflow to perform a CFD-study to give insight in different design options, such as the type of ventilation system used and the setup of the operating table, instrument tables, lamps, operation team and such.
Results
In this case we looked at the theatre when it’s in use, which is different from the normal design and validation case where an empty theatre is used at rest according to the Dutch guideline RL7. But when operating theatres are solely designed with the validation according to RL7 in mind, it can occur that the system doesn’t perform that well in use.
The CFD-study performed for Tergooi gave insight in the effect of several parameters. This lead to interesting conclusions which were used to decide which system was preferred by both the engineers and medical specialists.
