Modeling Emissions of VOCs from Indoor Sources
Architects and building owners are starting to require that low VOC emitting materials be used in buildings to reduce the probability of odor and health symptom complaints. When complaints occur, ventilation rates are often increased; thus, low VOC emitting materials contribute to energy efficiency. At present, expensive chamber tests performed over several weeks are used to characterize the time-history of emissions of VOCs from building materials. To reduce the burden on architects and suppliers of building materials, this U.S. Department of Energy sponsored project aims to develop methods to predict VOC emission rates over long periods from a few measured parameters. A coordinated program of laboratory experiments and model development is being undertaken to advance our understanding and predictive capabilities for the emissions of VOCs from solid-phase building materials. This program is being conducted in collaboration with Professor John Little at Virginia Tech who is separately funded by NSF. Laboratory methods have been developed to accurately measure the key model parameters. A mechanistic model for single layered materials that uses no fitted parameters has been more fully developed and validated. Another version of the model was developed to evaluate the sink effects of diffusion-controlled indoor materials in response to transient contaminant sources. In continued collaboration with Dr. Little, we are working to develop and extend this model set to include more complex multi-layered materials. Ultimately, these models should improve our ability to predict short and long-term impacts of materials on IAQ and assist manufacturers in the design and production of new materials with lower VOC emissions.
Link to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Building Technology, State
and Community Programs web site
http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/
Link to John Little's home page at Virginia Tech
http://www.cee.vt.edu/people.php?cat=faculty&action=detail&id=cf47575930ecf616e51aa2881aa436eb
Contact: Al Hodgson