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Calculation of CO2 generation and required fresh air rates in a high-intensity physical athletic facility
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Calculation of CO2 generation and required fresh air rates in a high-intensity physical athletic facility

Carlos Faubel, Antonio Martinez-Molina and Jae Yong Suk
Journal of Building Engineering, v 82, 108289
01 Apr 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2023.108289
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Athletic facilities CO2 generation rate Indoor air quality Particulate matter Volumetric fresh air flow rate
Recently, there has been a significant growth in the number of athletic facilities associated with the progressive demand of people trying to reverse the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of current society. Cross-training facilities have become more popular in recent years among these training centers. Therefore, a detailed investigation of their indoor air quality (IAQ) is required to ensure a healthy environment for their occupants. In this study, we evaluated the IAQ of a cross-training facility in San Antonio, Texas, USA, for four days in January 2022. Each day was associated with a different air ventilation scenario involving the use of ceiling fans and an air filtration unit during the training sessions. Data from carbon dioxide (CO2) and particulate matter (PM) concentrations have been gathered for 24 h in 5-min intervals for high-intensity physical activity, such as cross-training workouts, and subsequently analyzed. CO2 concentration has been used to obtain both the infiltration rate of the building using the tracer gas decay method, and the CO2 generation rate, providing reference values as a function of the occupancy for different workout sessions. The applied methodology can be used to calculate the required volumetric fresh air flow rate to ensure a healthy environment regarding CO2 concentration in athletic facilities. In particular, the fresh air necessary rates obtained for the cross-training sessions are higher than the ones associated with sedentary activities. Finally, the deposition rate of PM from 0.3 to 10 μm has been calculated, including those potentially harmful to humans, namely PM2.5, PM5, and PM10. •Indoor Air quality study of a cross-training facility for four different scenarios.•Monitoring of CO2 and PM concentrations for high-intensity physical activity.•CO2 generation rate calculation as function of occupancy for cross-training session.•Methodology to determine the required fresh air rate for healthy CO2 levels in gyms.•Needed fresh air rate for high-intensity workouts is higher than for daily actions.

Metrics

11 Record Views
12 citations in Web of Science
6 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#13 Climate Action
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
#7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Source: SDGs in the Output

InCites Highlights

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Construction & Building Technology
Engineering, Civil
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