The Use of Different Levels of Multi-Room Modeling Approach-Application to Building Pollution Transport and Efficiency of Off-Hour Ventilation

Abstract

Several building simulation programs have been developed for design, analysis and prediction of the distribution of temperature, airflow and heat transfer between inside and outside of a building and/or between different zones of the same building. These programs are categorized as mono-zone models, multi-room models, zonal models, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models and multi-zone models. The number of computer programs continues to increase, each reflecting different objectives and concerns. Some of these computer programs are dedicated to research and others to design and auditing. However, none of the existing computer programs is able to translate automatically various steps of the design process as actually performed by design Architectural Engineering firms. This study addresses different levels of multi-room simulation programs developed through the last four decades. Two case studies using multi-room programs have been exposed to illustrate the appropriate use of various levels of this approach for design and analysis.

Building Simulation Software for Indoor Air Quality Research: A Review

“…In this category of models, a zone can be described as a specific room or even a collection of rooms, with homogeneous air properties and contaminant concentrations. [25]. The airflow rates through paths and the average contaminant concentrations are calculated based on the mass balance.…”

Data Reconstruction of Wireless Sensor Network and Zonal Demand Control in a Large-Scale Indoor Space Considering Thermal Coupling

“…CONTAM [45], developed by the U.S. national institute of standards and technology, is a multi-zone indoor air quality and ventilation analysis program designed to assist in identifying airflow, pollutant concentrations, and occupant exposures within a building. The application of CONTAM to predict airflow and pollutant transport was validated by many researchers [46][47][48]. CONTAM calculates infiltration and exfiltration airflow between interior areas of a building and the outdoors, airflow from room to room, and airflow from ventilation systems.…”