Preliminary investigation of uncombusted auto fuel vapor dispersion within a residential garage microenvironment

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:6209954

Lansari, A; Streicher, J J; Huber, A H; Crescenti, G H; Zweidinger, R B

Evaporative emissions from vehicles in an attached garage may represent a significant source of indoor pollution and human exposure. A pilot field study was undertaken to investigate potential in-house dispersion of evaporative emissions of uncombusted fuels from a vehicle parked inside an attached garage. In a set of experiments using sulfur hexafluoride tracer gas, the multizonal mass balance model, CONTAM88, was used to predict interzonal air flow rates and SF6 concentration distributions within the garage and house. Several experiments were included to evaluate the effect of meteorology and mechanical mixing mechanisms on the dispersion of automobile fuel vapor. Measurements indicated that approximately three percent of the garage maximum concentration was measured in a room adjacent to the garage. The model successfully predicted garage concentrations under well mixed conditions, but underpredicted the measured concentrations within various rooms of the house, in which mixing was incomplete. Multizonal mass balance models such as CONTAM88 may be useful in approximating contaminant concentrations at various locations within the house.

• Research Organization: Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
• OSTI ID: 6209954
• Report Number(s): PB-93-204048/XAB; EPA-600/A-93/123
• Resource Relation: Other Information: See also PB--91-136911
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
02 PETROLEUM
GASOLINE
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
VAPORS
AIR POLLUTION MONITORS
AIR FLOW
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
EVAPORATION
FIELD TESTS
FUELS
GASEOUS WASTES
HOUSES
MASS BALANCE
METEOROLOGY
MIXING
RESIDENTIAL SECTOR
STATISTICAL DATA
SULFUR
TRACER TECHNIQUES
VEHICLES
AIR POLLUTION
BUILDINGS
DATA
ELEMENTS
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
GAS FLOW
GASES
INFORMATION
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
LIQUID FUELS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MONITORS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
POLLUTION
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
TESTING
WASTES
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
320107 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Building Systems- (1987-)
020900 - Petroleum- Environmental Aspects