Contam airflow models of three large buildings: Model descriptions and validation
Airflow and pollutant transport models are useful for several reasons, including protection from or response to biological terrorism. In recent years they have been used for deciding how many biological agent samplers are needed in a given building to detect the release of an agent; to figure out where those samplers should be located; to predict the number of people at risk in the event of a release of a given size and location; to devise response strategies in the event of a release; to determine optimal trade-offs between sampler characteristics (such as detection limit and response time); and so on. For some of these purposes it is necessary to model a specific building of interest: if you are trying to determine optimal sampling locations, you must have a model of your building and not some different building. But for many purposes generic or 'prototypical' building models would suffice. For example, for determining trade-offs between sampler characteristics, results from one building will carry over other, similar buildings. Prototypical building models are also useful for comparing or testing different algorithms or computational pproaches: different researchers can use the same models, thus allowing direct comparison of results in a way that is not otherwise possible. This document discusses prototypical building models developed by the Airflow and Pollutant Transport Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The models are implemented in the Contam v2.4c modeling program, available from the National Institutes for Standards and Technology. We present Contam airflow models of three virtual buildings: a convention center, an airport terminal, and a multi-story office building. All of the models are based to some extent on specific real buildings. Our goal is to produce models that are realistic, in terms of approximate magnitudes, directions, and speeds of airflow and pollutant transport. The three models vary substantially in detail. The airport model is the simplest; the onvention center model is more detailed; and the large office building model is quite complicated. We give several simplified floor plans in this document, to explain basic features of the buildings. The actual models are somewhat more complicated; for instance, spaces that are represented as rectangles in this document sometimes have more complicated shapes in the models. (However, note that the shape of a zone is irrelevant in Contam). Consult the Contam models themselves for detailed floor plans. Each building model is provided with three ventilation conditions, representing mechanical systems in which 20%, 50%, or 80% of the building air is recirculated and the rest is provided from outdoors. Please see the section on 'Use of the models' for important information about issues to consider if you wish to modify the models to provide no mechanical ventilation or eliminate provision of outdoor air.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Environmental Energy Technologies Division
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 984744
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-3593E; TRN: US201016%%1876
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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