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Development and assessment of a physics-based simulation model to investigate residential PM2.5 infiltration across the US housing stock
Citation:
Logue, J., M. Sherman, M. Lunden, N. Klepeis, R. Williams, C. Croghan, AND B. Singer. Development and assessment of a physics-based simulation model to investigate residential PM2.5 infiltration across the US housing stock. BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 94(1):21-32, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s (NERL’s) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD’s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA’s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Population Impact Assessment Modeling Framework (PIAMF) was expanded to enable determination of indoor PM2.5 concentrations and exposures in a set of 50,000 homes representing the US housing stock. A mass-balance model is used to calculate time-dependent pollutant concentrations within each home. The model includes size- and species-dependent removal mechanisms. The particle model was applied to the housing samples of the Relationship of Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal Air (RIOPA) and The Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) studies to compare model- and measurement-based estimates of indoor PM2.5 of outdoor origin. Model-derived distributions of infiltration factors (ratio of indoor PM2.5 of outdoor origin to outdoor PM2.5) are compared to measurement-based distributions obtained in studies conducted in 11 US cities.
