Characterizing indoor airflow and pollutant transport using simulation modeling for prototypical buildings. 1. Office buildings

This paper describes the first efforts at developing a set of prototypical buildings defined to capture the key features affecting airflow and pollutant transport in buildings. These buildings will be used to model airflow and pollutant transport for emergency response scenarios when limited site-specific information is available and immediate decisions must be made, and to better understand key features of buildings controlling occupant exposures to indoor pollutant sources. This paper presents an example of this approach for a prototypical intermediate-sized, open style, commercial building. Interzonal transport due to a short-term source release, e.g., accidental chemical spill, in the bottom and the upper floors is predicted and corresponding HVAC system operation effects and potential responses are considered. Three-hour average exposure estimates are used to compare effects of source location and HVAC operation.