Abstract

The use of computer simulations is a powerful alternative in the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) study due to the efficient performance and the amount of it is able to obtain. Multi-zone modeling is one of the most popular computing methods for IAQ study, thus can provide the knowledge of indoor airflow, temperature and contaminant concentration distributions. The study was conducted in TX Air House 1 using CONTAM software developed by U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) which is one of the most widely used airflow and indoor modeling program. The model was developed and calibrated to predict the contaminant distribution in residential buildings. In order to validate the results used in this work, statistical tools such as correlation coefficient, normalized mean square error and others were used to evaluate the accuracy of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) prediction. Flow parameters and HVAC characteristics are the basis for the analysis and understanding of building airflow and tracer gas behavior. Dropping the number of individual flow parameters and tuning in on the HVAC characteristics during calibration, allowed to reduce the error and elevated the accuracy of the model, since the zones have similar airflow dynamics and tracer gas behavior. Wind speed and wind direction could have significant influences in the distribution of the contaminant. The slight variations over time, the small amount of cross contamination between zones, and the physical conditions such as the tightness of the building, were observed to not allow these factors to have a real influence on the distribution of the contaminant.

Date of publication

Fall 1-24-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/194

Download

Share

COinS