A coupled airflow and source/sink model for simulating indoor VOC exposures

In this paper, a numerical model is presented to study the indoor air quality (IAQ) in a room with different emission sources, sinks, and ventilation methods. A computer program, ACCESS-IAQ, is developed to simulate the airflow pattern, the time history of the contaminant concentrations in the occupied zone, and the inhalation exposures. The program developed may be useful for IAQ professional to design healthy and comfortable indoor environments. A numerical study has been carried out to predict the effectiveness of a displacement ventilation and a mixing ventilation on volatile organic compound (VOC) removal in a model office. Results from the numerical predictions show that when a "wet" emission source (a freshly painted wood stain) is distributed uniformly across the floor area with sinks (gypsum board) from the four vertical walls, displacement ventilation has consistently lower exposure at the breathing level of the occupant in the room. Such an effect is mainly due to the higher ventilation efficiency of displacement ventilation compared to the mixing ventilation. The simulation results also show that the walls adsorb significant amounts of VOCs during the first hour and act as secondary sources thereafter.