Methodology for the in situ characterisation of soil vapor contaminants and their impact on the indoor air quality of buildings

Abstract

This study presents a fast and nonintrusive in situ methodology to characterise the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) fluxes of contaminated sites and to quantify their intrusion into future buildings built on these sites. It could be used to conduct exhaustive ground pre-characterisation and indoor air assessments for future on-site buildings. The methodology involved the use of a specific apparatus called the "experimental box", representing convective and diffusive transfers of soil gas pollutants into buildings, to quantify an equivalent homogeneous concentration of the contaminant in the soil gas. Furthermore, this equivalent homogeneous concentration was used to quantify the indoor air pollutant concentration in a future building using an analytical transfer model associated with a numerical ventilation model. This methodology was applied on an experimental site. A critical analysis highlights its interest as a powerful complementary tool to constitute complementary support for decision-making methods and for human health risk assessment.

Radon levels and indoor air quality after application of thermal retrofit measures—a case study

“…Based on results of 11 studies conducted in Europe and USA, Fisk et al ( 2020 ) pointed out that radon increases after retrofits were more common than decreases, and varied from a few percent to more than 100%. The variation of indoor pollutants is mainly influenced by the variation of meteorological conditions, impact of the air renewal and building depressurization levels (Collignan et al 2020 ).…”

A Study on a Flux Chamber Design and its Performance Verification for Field Measurement of Indoor Air Pollutants Emissions

“…플럭스 챔버법은 면 오염원 의 실제 표면에 직접 적용 가능하여 토양, 매립지, 지하수 등과 같은 여러 환경 매질에서의 오염물질 방출량 실 측에 다수 활용되어 왔으며 [4][5][6][7][8][9] , 공기-토양 매질 사이의 물질교환량 측정평가에도 이용된 사례가 있다 [10][11][12] . 이 에 방출된 오염물질이 실내로 유입될 수 있는 가능성에 대한 고려 또한 수반되기도 하나 13,14) , 실제 실내공기질 에 영향을 미칠 수 있는 실내 오염원에 대한 실측 기법으로써의 적용 사례는 아직 부족한 실정이다.…”