Recent advances in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
has made CFD a reliable and popular tool that is used for a wide range of applications ranging from aerospace to appliances modeling.
CFD is the application of numerical techniques to solve the governing
Navier-Stokes equations in the discretized
form. CFD models can provide a microscopic description of airflow and the behavior of pollutants in a room even when the well-mixed assumption
does not hold, for example in large spaces such as auditoriums, atriums etc.
A release in public space can expose large numbers of people to the pollutant. With the short time frames and large room volumes involved, assuming a
uniform pollutant distribution in the space under predicts exposure of occupants in the vicinity of the release. CFD models can be used to predict the
transport of the pollutants in a short time after the spill. Modeling results help determine optimal sensor locations, develop rapid response strategies,
and quantify pollutant dispersion under various release scenarios. We use CFD to predict transient pollutant transport, for example in the
full-scale test chamber (Tin Box) and in the
scale-model tank (Water Tank).
Integration of CFD and Conjunction of Multizone Infiltration Specialists (COMIS)
Simulation of airflow or pollutant transport throughout all indoor spaces within a large building using only CFD can be a formidable task.
The predictions using only COMIS can sometimes be inadequate because
assumption of instantaneously perfect mixing is inapplicable to large indoor spaces. Our current research efforts attempt to combine the accuracy
of the CFD prediction with the efficient multizone models to improve the overall quality of the predictions for a building containing a large
indoor space.
