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Investigation of room ventilation for improved operation of a downdraft table

Conference ·
OSTI ID:835163

We report a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study on containment of airborne hazardous materials in a ventilated room containing a downdraft table. Specifically, we investigate the containment of hazardous airborne material obtainable under a range of ventilation configurations. The desirable ventilation configuration should ensure excellent containment of the hazardous material released from the workspace above the downdraft table. However, increased airflow raises operation costs, so the airflow should be as low as feasible without compromising containment. The airflow is modeled using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations with a high Reynolds number k-epsilon turbulence model. CFD predictions are examined for several ventilation configurations. Based on this study, we find that substantial improvements in containment are possible concurrent with a significant reduction in airflow, compared to the existing design of ventilation configuration.

Research Organization:
Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Norwegian Research Council. Norwegian Building Research Institute. Project 133692/420, U.S. - Norway Fullbright Foundation for Educational Exchange (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
835163
Report Number(s):
LBNL--55561
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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