Simulations for Indoor Air Quality Control Planning

Indoor air pollution has become a broad problem due to various indoor or outdoor pollutant sources and limited ventilation. A performance-based approach, which is built upon accurate modeling and simulation of indoor air pollutant characteristics, has obvious advantages over the prescription-based method to achieve a better indoor environment. Moreover, the simulation could play a key role in actively preventing indoor air pollution from happening in the first place. In this Chapter, we introduce the working procedures of the performance-based approach including identification of purpose, model assumptions, governing equations, determination of model inputs, specification of model outputs, simulation case design, simulation running, and analysis of simulation results for indoor air quality (IAQ) design. Single-zone, multi-zone, and detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models are discussed along with a brief review of example software tools available for implementing the simulation models. Discussions are focused on modeling volatile organic compound (VOC) sources, sinks, ventilation, and their impact on the concentrations indoors. As for the public concerned SARS and SARS-CoV-2 virus, a brief discussion is provided based on the real cases.