Modeling Particle Dispersion under Human Activity Disturbance in a Multizone Indoor Environment
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 13, Issue 4
Abstract
Human activity is an important factor influencing particle resuspension in the indoor environment. This work studies the applicability of a multizone airflow and contaminant transport model (CONTAM 2.1) in the simulation of indoor dispersion of particles under human activity disturbance. An iterative method is suggested to complement CONTAM 2.1, by tracking the transient particle concentration on floor surface due to dynamic deposition and resuspension process. A three-zone building with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system is used as the simulation case to test the convergence and accuracy of this algorithm under different particle-release scenarios. The algorithm shows a very fast convergence speed in the simulation. Comparisons of calculation results between the multizone model and the analytical model show good agreement and verify the accuracy of the multizone model simulation. The airborne particle concentration profiles and human breathing dose are also analyzed for the three-zone building model.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The support of this work by US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (USACHPPM) contract Nos. UNSPECIFIEDDABJ05-03-P-1210 and UNSPECIFIEDW91ZLK-05-P-0838 is gratefully acknowledged.
References
ASHRAE. (2004). ANSI/ASHRAE standard 62.1-2004: Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Atlanta, Ga.
Buttner, M. P., Cruz-Perez, P., Stetzenbac, L. D., Garrett, P. J., and Luedtke, A. E. (2002). “Measurement of airborne fungal spore dispersal from three types of flooring materials.” Aerobiologia, 18, 1–11.
Cicciarelli, B. A., Davidson, D. L., Hart, E. H., and Peoples, P. R. (2002). “CFD analysis of the behavior of airborne allergens in carpeted and uncarpeted dwellings.” ASME J. Pressure Vessel Technol., 448, 239–247.
Dols, W. S., and Walton, G. N. (2002). CONTAMW 2.1 user’s manual, Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
EPA. (1997). Exposure factors handbook, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 5-5.
Hambraeus, A., Bengtsson, S., and Laurell, G. (1978). “Bacterial contamination in a modern operating suite. Importance of floor contamination as a source of airborne bacteria.” J. Hyg. (Lond), 80(2), 169–174.
Hu, B., Freihaut, J. D., Bahnfleth, W. P., and Thran, B. (2006). “Simulating transient particle deposition/resuspension in indoor environments.” Proc., 3rd Int. Building Physics/Science Conf., Montreal, Canada.
Karlsson, E., Berglund, T., Stromqvist, M., Nordstrand, M., and Fangmark, I. (1999). “The effect of resuspension caused by human activities on the indoor concentration of biological aerosols.” J. Aerosol Sci., 30 (Suppl. 1), 737–738.
Karlsson, E., Fangmark, I., and Berglund, T. (1996). “Resuspension of an indoor aerosol.” J. Aerosol Sci., 27 (Supp. 1), S441–S442.
Klein, S. A. (2004). Manual for EES: Engineering equation solver, F-Chart Software.
Lu, W., Howarth, A. T., Adams, N. M., and Riffat, S. B. (1999). “CFD modeling and measurement of aerosol particle distributions in ventilated multizone rooms.” ASHRAE Trans., 105, 116–127.
Microsoft. (2003). Microsoft Excel 2003, Microsoft Software.
Robinson, J., and Nelson, W. C. (1995). National human activity pattern survey database, Research Triangle Park, N.C., USEPA.
Sehmel, G. A. (1984). “Deposition and resuspension.” Atmospheric science and power production, D. Randerson, ed., Technical Information Center, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy.
Wallace, L. (1996). “Indoor particle: A review.” J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc., 46(2), 98–125.
Zhang, Z., and Chen, Q. (2006). “Experimental measurements and numerical simulations of particle transport and distribution in ventilated rooms.” Atmos. Environ., 40, 3396–3408.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 13 • Issue 4 • December 2007
Pages: 187 - 193
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 29, 2005
Accepted: May 21, 2007
Published online: Dec 1, 2007
Published in print: Dec 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.