AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Modeling of Indoor Particles with Resuspension via Human Activity for a Commercial Building
KYUNG SUL, James Farnsworth, Andrea R. Ferro, Clarkson University
Abstract Number: 323 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Because people spend most of their time indoors, investigation of indoor pollution is important for examining human exposure. Human activity is known as a significant source of indoor particles via resuspension. However, most investigations on particle resuspension have taken place in the laboratory or in the residence. In this study, a materials balance model was developed to simulate particulate matter (PM) concentration in indoor air for an occupied commercial building. The model includes resuspension from human activity and infiltration of particles from outdoor air as the primary sources of indoor PM. The number of employee occupants in each targeted area as a function of time was considered as a factor for the resuspension term, along with the resuspension fraction (fraction of particles emitted per footstep), stepping frequency, and floor loading. Entry and exit of employees from key card data was used to count the occupancy in each room. The concentration for each particle size bin was calculated and compared with measured number concentrations of particles from optical particle counters. Concentrations from the simulation results showed good agreement with the measured data.