Transport of indoor aerosols to hidden interior spaces

Mengjia Tang, Ningling Zhu, Kerry Kinney, Atila Novoselac

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Most studies on indoor aerosols have focused on the open spaces within buildings that are visible to occupants, while the hidden spaces in buildings receive much less attention. Indeed, little is known about the extent to which indoor aerosols are transported into closets, cabinets and drawers. Aerosols deposited in these hidden spaces serve as a reservoir for particulate matter with the potential for resuspension within homes. To investigate aerosol transport to indoor hidden spaces, a series of experiments were conducted in a full-scale test house. Specifically, aerosols released indoors were tracked using a fluorometric method and the air circulation between the open and hidden spaces were measured using tracer gas techniques. The results show that momentum-driven flow caused by fan operation had a negligible impact on the overall air circulation between rooms and hidden spaces. Rather, the circulation was driven primarily by buoyancy forces caused by temperature differences between the hidden spaces and adjacent rooms. In the well-controlled, three-bedroom two-bathroom test house used in this study, aerosols released indoors dispersed and deposited across the open spaces and even within closets with closed doors. For more sealed spaces like closed drawers within closed cabinets, the air circulation rates between the adjacent room and hidden space were substantially lower and a much lower fraction of the indoor aerosols deposited in these areas. Nevertheless, the results indicate that at least one percent of the indoor aerosol source penetrated into the most remote indoor hidden spaces.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)94-110
Number of pages17
JournalAerosol Science and Technology
Volume54
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2 2020
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The access to the fluorescence stereoscope used in this research was provided by the Microscopy and Imaging Facility of the Center for Biomedical Research Support at The University of Texas at Austin. The authors would like to thank the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for funding the Hidden Spaces Project (Grant No. G-2016-7203). The access to the fluorescence stereoscope used in this research was provided by the Microscopy and Imaging Facility of the Center for Biomedical Research Support at The University of Texas at Austin.

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