Development of the Two-Zone Model to Estimate the Air Quality in Indoor Environments

실내 공기질 평가를 위한 2구획 모델의 개발

The well-mixed room model has been traditionally used to predict the concentrations of contaminants in indoor environments. However, this is inappropriate because the flow fields in many indoor environments distribute contaminants non-uniformly, due to imperfect air mixing. Thus, some means used to describe an imperfectly mixed room are needed. The simplest model that accounts for imperfect air mixing is a two-zone model. Therefore, this study on development of computer program far the two-zone model is carried out to propose techniques of estimating the concentration of contaminants in the room. To do this, an important consideration is to divide a room into two-zone, i.e. the lower and upper zone assuming that the air and contaminants are well mixed within each zone. And between the zones the air recirculation is characterized through the air exchange parameter. By this basic assumption, the equations for the conservation of mass are derived for each zone. These equations are solved by using the computational technique. The language used to develope the program is a VISUAL BASIC. The value of air exchange coefficient($f_12$) is the most difficult to forecast when the concentrations of contaminants in an imperfectly mixed room are estimated by the two-zone model. But, as the value of $f_12$ increases, the air exchange between each zone increases. When the value of $f_12$ is approximately 15, the concentrations in both zone approach each other, and the entire room may be approximately treated as a single well-mixed room. Therefore, this study is available for designing of the ventilation to improve the air quality of indoor environments. Also, the two-zone model produces the theoretical base which may be extended to the theory for the multi-zone model, that will be contributed to estimate the air pollution in large enclosures, such as shopping malls, atria buildings, atria terminals, and covered sports stadia.