Evolution of contaminant distribution at steady airflow field with an arbitrary initial condition in ventilated space

Transient contaminant dispersion is of high importance to human comfort, health and safety. Lumped parameter model is usually applied to predict the evolution of contaminant dispersion, which, however, will not be effective when the contaminant distribution is not uniform. When airflow field is steady, the contaminant concentration distribution versus time will be determined by the concentration of supply air, contaminant source and initial concentration distribution in the ventilated space. An analytic expression of distributed contaminant concentration was developed using the accessibility of supply air (ASA), accessibility of contaminant source (ACS) and accessibility of initial condition (AIC). The ASA, ACS and AIC describe the contribution of supply air, contaminant source and initial condition to any point in ventilated space, and are determined by the airflow field if the contaminant sources and initial distribution are given. The analytic expression was validated by the tracer gas measurement in a test chamber. Based on the application of the expression in typical cases, the differences as well as connections between the analytic expression and lumped model were discussed. It is shown that the analytic expression is helpful for the understanding of the contaminant evolution process and may be used to obtain effective ventilation strategy for comfort and emergency. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.