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Evaluation of ventilation effectiveness using an IAQ model

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6587435
The paper discusses an evaluation of ventilation effectiveness, using a new ventilation solver that can determine the distributions of a time-averaged flow field, the effective turbulent diffusion coefficient, and the steady-state or time-dependent contaminant concentration distribution within isothermal indoor space. The model was written for a personal computer, and the computational speed is extremely fast (a few minutes) with reasonable accuracy so that engineers can use it as a tool to evaluate ventilation performance in indoor space yet to be built. Ventilation performance depends on room geometry; the ventilation method; operating conditions; and location, strength, and types of contaminants. Case studies were performed using a user-friendly indoor air quality (IAQ) model. Ventilation performance was evaluated using three proposed new scales called Ventilation Performance Indices (VPIs): average contaminant concentration or decay rate (VPI1), average contaminant diffusion coefficient (VPI2), and average contaminant concentration or decay rate at the breathing level (VPI3).
Research Organization:
Research Triangle Inst., Durham, NC (United States)
OSTI ID:
6587435
Report Number(s):
PB-93-173086/XAB; CNN: EPA-R-817083
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English