Journal article
Predicting indoor concentrations and chemical composition of outdoor-originated particulate matter with a CONTAM building model
Aerosol science and technology, pp 1-14
03 Jul 2025
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Outdoor-originated aerosols impact indoor air quality. Both concentrations and chemical compositions of outdoor aerosols are modified while transported into indoor environments. Humans spend most of their time indoors, thus understanding this modification is important to understand indoor exposure to ambient pollutants. In this work, the impacts of the variation in outdoor aerosol concentration and chemical composition on indoor aerosol were examined within a high-rise, multi-family building. High-rise multi-family buildings rely on pressurized corridor ventilation systems to bring ambient air indoors. These ventilation systems often do not perform to specifications and could lead to floor-based disparities in distributed ventilation air, especially when indoor-outdoor temperature gradient is pronounced, resulting in variations in thermodynamic partitioning, and subsequently indoor-outdoor ratios of ambient pollutants. Airflow and pollutant simulations were performed with a CONTAM (a multizone indoor air quality analysis computer software) building model to obtain the indoor-outdoor ratio of a nonvolatile, non-reactive inert species. Chemical composition of ambient particulate matter that are smaller than 2.5 micrometer (PM2.5) was reconstructed from regulatory monitoring data based on modified PM2.5 mass reconstruction techniques. Indoor PM2.5 concentrations were computed using a combination of a mechanical particle transport model and composition-dependent scaling factors that account for thermodynamic behavior of semi-volatile particle subcomponents. Indoor-outdoor ratios and by extension concentrations and composition of particulate chemical species showed variation across seasons and by floor due to differences in building ventilation. This work quantifies how thermodynamically-representative speciated exposures to ambient PM vary by both floor and ambient temperature within a single building.
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Details
- Title
- Predicting indoor concentrations and chemical composition of outdoor-originated particulate matter with a CONTAM building model
- Creators
- Xinxiu Tian - Johns Hopkins UniversityBryan E. Cummings - Drexel UniversityMichael S. Waring - Drexel UniversityMarianne F. Touchie - University of TorontoEllis S. Robinson - Johns Hopkins UniversityBenjamin A. Nault - Johns Hopkins UniversityPeter F. DeCarlo - Johns Hopkins University
- Publication Details
- Aerosol science and technology, pp 1-14
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Number of pages
- 14
- Grant note
- G-2019-12301 / Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001522112800001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105009702457
- Other Identifier
- 991022065026504721
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- Collaboration types
- Industry collaboration
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Engineering, Chemical
- Engineering, Mechanical
- Environmental Sciences
- Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences