Abstract Number: 176 Working Group: Aerosol Physics
Abstract When air pollution incidents or extreme weather occurs, outdoor sources of pollutants penetrate into houses, negatively affecting indoor air quality and endangering human health. Using the most common housing design, this study simulates the process of particles passing through cracks of a building from the outside under air pollution conditions. The effectiveness of house sheltering was assessed by focusing on the charging effect and particle diameter. A high penetration factor corresponds to a high particle flow concentration. An air exchange rate higher than 1.20 h-1 can effectively remove indoor particles (ultra-fine particles and fine particles less than 500 nm in diameter), but it also increases the penetration factor and the risk of a large number of outdoor particles entering indoors. Uncharged particles are more susceptible than neutralized ones to external forces provided by the ventilation system. Acknowledgments: This work was financially supported by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) of Japan and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).