Skip to main content
PMC home page
Springer Nature - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Springer Nature - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2016 Dec 20;10(4):525–534. doi: 10.1007/s12273-016-0340-1

Multi-zone simulation of outdoor particle penetration and transport in a multi-story building

Byung Hee Lee 1, Su Whan Yee 2, Dong Hwa Kang 3,✉, Myoung Souk Yeo 4, Kwang Woo Kim 4
PMCID: PMC7090779  PMID: 32218899

Abstract

In areas with poor ambient air quality, indoor particle concentrations can be significantly affected by particulate matter originating outdoors. The indoor environments of multi-zone and multi-story buildings are affected differently by outdoor particles compared with single-family houses, because of the buildings’ more complicated airflow characteristics. The objective of this study is to analyze outdoor particle penetration and transport, and their impact on indoor air, in a multi-zone and multi-story building using a CONTAMW simulation. For the airflow and particle transport analysis, the building leakage, penetration coefficients, and deposition rates were determined by on-site experiments. The results of airflow simulations for cold winters show that outdoor air infiltrates through the lower part of building and exfiltrates from the upper part. The results of the particle simulation also indicated that the airflow characteristics, combined with deposition rates, cause the lower floors of a multi-story building to be exposed to higher fine particle concentrations compared with the upper floors of the building. The study demonstrated that the CONTAMW simulation can be useful in analyzing the impact of outdoor particles on indoor environments through the identification of key particle transport parameters and validated airflow simulations.

Keywords: multi-zone simulation, outdoor particles, penetration, deposition, particle transport, multi-story building

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the 2014 Research Fund of the University of Seoul (2014-05159037) for Dong Hwa Kang. Also, this research was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment as “The Converging Technology Project” (2013001650002) for Byung Hee Lee, Su Whan Yee and Myoung Souk Yeo.

References

  1. Abdul Rahim N. General problems associated with air quality in developing countries. In: Innes JL, Haron AH, editors. Air Pollution and the Forests of Developing and Rapidly Industrializing Regions. Report No. 4 of the IUFRO Task Force on Environmental Change. Wallingford, UK: CABI; 2000. pp. 15–34. [Google Scholar]
  2. Abt E, Suh HH, Catalano P, Koutrakis P. Relative contribution of outdoor and indoor particle sources to indoor concentrations. Environmental Science & Technology. 2000;34:3579–3587. doi: 10.1021/es990348y. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  3. Alzona J, Cohen BL, Rudolph H, Jow HN, Frohliger JO. Indoor-outdoor relationships for airborne particulate matter of outdoor origin. Atmospheric Environment. 1979;13:55–60. doi: 10.1016/0004-6981(79)90244-0. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cao JJ, Lee SC, Chow JC, Cheng Y, Ho KF, Fung K, Liu SX, Watson JG (2005), Indoor/outdoor relationships for PM2.5 and associated carbonaceous pollutants at residential homes in Hong Kong—Case study. Indoor Air, 15: 197–204. [DOI] [PubMed]
  5. Chao CYH, Wan MP, Cheng CK. Penetration coefficient and deposition rate as a function of particle size in non-smoking naturally ventilated residences. Atmospheric Environment. 2003;37:4233–4241. doi: 10.1016/S1352-2310(03)00560-0. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chatoutsidou SE, Ondrácek J, Tesar O, Tørseth K, Ždímal V, Lazaridis M. Indoor/outdoor particulate matter number and mass concentration in modern offices. Building and Environment. 2015;92:462–474. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.05.023. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chen X, Li A. An experimental study on particle deposition above near-wall heat source. Building and Environment. 2014;81:139–149. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.06.020. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chun Y, Kim J, Choi JC, Boo KO, Oh SN, Lee M. Characteristic number size distribution of aerosol during Asian dust period in Korea. Atmospheric Environment. 2001;35:2715–2721. doi: 10.1016/S1352-2310(00)00404-0. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  9. Colbeck I, Nasir ZA, Ali Z. Characteristics of indoor/outdoor particulate pollution in urban and rural residential environment of Pakistan. Indoor Air. 2010;20:40–51. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2009.00624.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Demetriou DW, Khalifa HE. Evaluation of distributed environmental control systems for improving IAQ and reducing energy consumption in office buildings. Building Simulation. 2009;2:197–214. doi: 10.1007/s12273-009-9320-z. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dols WS, Emmerich SJ, Polidoro BJ. Coupling the multizone airflow and contaminant transport software CONTAM with EnergyPlus using co-simulation. Building Simulation. 2016;9:469–479. doi: 10.1007/s12273-016-0279-2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Elimelech M, Gregory J, Jia X, Williams RA (2006). Particle Deposition & Aggregation. Woburn, MA, USA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
  13. ISO . ISO 9972: 2015. Thermal Performance of Buildings—Determination of Air Permeability Of Buildings—Fan Pressurization Method. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization; 2015. [Google Scholar]
  14. ISO . ISO 14644-1: 2015. Cleanrooms and Associated Controlled Environments. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization; 2015. [Google Scholar]
  15. Kuo H-W, Shen H-Y. Indoor and outdoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in the air during a dust storm. Building and Environment. 2010;45:610–614. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.07.017. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  16. Lai ACK. Modeling of airborne particle exposure and effectiveness of engineering control strategies. Building and Environment. 2004;39:599–610. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2003.12.005. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  17. Lee JT, Shin DC, Chung Y. Air pollution and daily mortality in Seoul and Ulsan, Korea. Environmental Health Perspectives. 1999;107:149–154. doi: 10.1289/ehp.99107149. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lee SC, Chang M. Indoor and outdoor air quality investigation at schools in Hong Kong. Chemosphere. 2000;41:109–113. doi: 10.1016/S0045-6535(99)00396-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ligocki MP, Salmon LG, Fall T, Jones MC, Nazaroff WW, Cass GR. Characteristics of airborne particles inside southern California museums. Atmospheric Environment. Part A. General Topics. 1993;27:697–711. doi: 10.1016/0960-1686(93)90188-5. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lim TS, Cho JK, Kim BS. Predictions and measurements of the stack effect on indoor airborne virus transmission in a high-rise hospital building. Building and Environment. 2011;46:2413–2424. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.04.015. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Liu LJS, Box M, Kalman D, Kaufman J, Koenig J, Larson T, Lumley T, Sheppard L, Wallace L. Exposure assessment of particulate matter for susceptible populations in Seattle. Environmental Healthy Perspectives. 2003;111:909–918. doi: 10.1289/ehp.6011. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Liu X, Zhai ZJ. Prompt tracking of indoor airborne contaminant source location with probability-based inverse multi-zone modeling. Building and Environment. 2009;44:1135–1143. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2008.08.004. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  23. Long CM, Suh HH, Catalano PJ, Koutrakis P. Using time- and size-resolved particulate data to quantify indoor penetration and deposition behavior. Environmental Science & Technology. 2001;35:2089–2099. doi: 10.1021/es001477d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Ma X, Shao X, Li X, Lin Y. An analytical expression for transient distribution of passive contaminant under steady flow field. Building and Environment. 2012;52:98–106. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.12.013. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  25. Miller RS. Elevator shaft pressurization for smoke control in tall buildings: The Seattle approach. Building and Environment. 2011;46:2247–2254. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.05.007. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  26. Oh H-J, Jeong N-N, Chi W-B, Seo J-H, Jun S-M, Sohn J-R. Characterization of particulate matter concentrations and bioaerosol on each floor at a building in Seoul, Korea. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2015;22:16040–16050. doi: 10.1007/s11356-015-4810-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Ozkaynak H, Xue J, Spengler J, Wallace L, Pellizzari E, Jenkins P. Personal exposure to airborne particles and metals: Results from the particle team study in Riverside, California. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology. 1996;6:57–78. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Pope CA, Bates DV, Raizenne ME. Health effects of particulate air pollution: Time for reassessment? Environmental Health Perspectives. 1995;103:472–280. doi: 10.1289/ehp.95103472. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Rim DH, Persily A, Emmerich S, Dols WS, Wallace L. Multizone modeling of size-resolved outdoor ultrafine particle entry into a test house. Atmospheric Environment. 2013;69:219–230. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2012.12.008. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  30. Rojas-Bracho L, Suh HH, Oyola P, Koutrakis P. Measurements of children’s exposures to particles and nitrogen dioxide in Santiago, Chile. The Science of the Total Environment. 2002;287:249–264. doi: 10.1016/S0048-9697(01)00987-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Sohn MD, Apte MG, Sextro RG, Lai ACK. Predicting sizeresolved particle behavior in multizone buildings. Atmospheric Environment. 2007;41:1473–1482. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.10.010. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  32. Stephens B. Building design and operational choices that impact indoor exposures to outdoor particulate matter inside residences. Science and Technology for the Built Environment. 2015;21:3–13. doi: 10.1080/10789669.2014.961849. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  33. Thatcher TL, Layton DW. Deposition, resuspension, and penetration of particles within a residence. Atmospheric Environment. 1995;29:1487–1497. doi: 10.1016/1352-2310(95)00016-R. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  34. Tung TCW, Chao CYH, Burnett J. A methodology to investigate the particulate penetration coefficient through building shell. Atmospheric Environment. 1999;33:881–893. doi: 10.1016/S1352-2310(98)00299-4. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  35. Wallace LA, Mitchell H, O’Connor GT, Neas L, Lippmann M, et al. Particle concentrations in inner-city homes of children with Asthma: The effect of smoking, cooking, and outdoor pollution. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2003;111:1265–1272. doi: 10.1289/ehp.6135. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Walton GN. AIRNET—A computer program for building airflow network modeling. Gaithersburg, MD, USA: National Institute of Standards and Technology; 1989. [Google Scholar]
  37. Walton GN, Dols WS. CONTAMW User Guide and Program Documentation. Gaithersburg, MD, USA: National Institute of Standards and Technology; 2005. [Google Scholar]
  38. Wang X, Bi X, Sheng G, Fu J. Hospital indoor PM10/PM2.5 and associated trace elements in Guangzhou, China. Science of the Total Environment. 2006;366:124–135. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.09.004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Williams R, Suggs J, Rea A, Sheldon L, Rodes C, Thornburg J. The Research Triangle Park particulate matter panel study: Modeling ambient source contribution to personal and residential PM mass concentrations. Atmospheric Environment. 2003;37:5365–5378. doi: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2003.09.010. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  40. Zhou Y, Deng Q. Numerical simulation of inter-floor airflow and impact on pollutant transport in high-rise buildings due to buoyancy-driven natural ventilation. Indoor and Built Environment. 2014;23:246–258. doi: 10.1177/1420326X13516969. [DOI] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Building Simulation are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES