10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Revisiting Historical Trials Data on Aerosol Ingress into Buildings and Dispersion
SIMON PARKER, Suzie Abbs, Simon Batchelor, Richard Beedham, Steven Herring, Patrick Rosenvinge, DSTL, UK
Abstract Number: 1360 Working Group: Bioaerosols
Abstract Understanding the airborne transport of aerosol and gas phase materials and their ingress into buildings is important for assessing the risks from hazardous materials, including bioaerosols. In particular, the reduction in exposure provided by buildings can be an important factor in reducing risk. However, information on building ingress is very limited, especially for hazardous materials. This makes it difficult to validate modelling frameworks that have recently been developed to couple outdoor and indoor dispersion simulations.
A recent review has been conducted of historical experiments at Dstl, Porton Down, UK. This review coincided with the 100 year anniversary of the site and has identified a number of trials performed between 1920 and 1960 that investigated the ingress of hazardous materials into buildings. The trials examined transient concentrations in single and two storey building interiors when subjected to external challenges from a variety of gas and aerosol phase materials. The trials were motivated by the need to assess the protection offered by buildings in the event of potential aerial attack by chemical materials during the Second World War. A particularly valuable dataset relates to multiple experiments performed using the same isolated two-storey house in both an unmodified and protected form.
While subject to some limitations due to the instrumentation capabilities of the time, the data provide evidence of how the concentration profile develops and decays in indoor environments when compared to a transient period of raised outdoor concentrations. This provides invaluable information for the validation of simulations and understanding how hazardous materials infiltrate and behave in indoor environments.
During the review of historical building ingress studies, a number of dispersion experiments were identified that used aerosol phase material. These studies provide valuable information on aerosol dispersion that can be used to validate and inform the development of current dispersion models.
This paper will introduce the range of historical experiments identified, and highlight those that provide unique insights into aerosol dispersion and building ingress of hazardous materials. It will describe the experimental methodologies used and present selected results from the experiments. It will highlight conclusions of relevance to current model development and validation, but also others that are relevant to current bioaerosol hazard assessment approaches and shelter-in-place advice.