CAREER: An integrated research and education framework for healthy buildings: development and validation of a comprehensive indoor aerosol dynamic model

美国人一生中有很大一部分时间是在家里、办公室和学校里度过的。建筑设计和操作的变化导致越来越多的密闭室内空间，以提高能源效率。这种情况增加了人们接触产生空气中潜在危险纳米颗粒的材料和消费品的风险。考虑到纳米颗粒空气动力学的复杂性，目前的传输模型不可能准确预测室内暴露于空气中的纳米颗粒。CAREER项目的目标是通过开发室内气溶胶动力学的基本机制模型来解决这一差距，该模型可以准确预测建筑物中纳米颗粒的动态行为。该模型的成功开发将有助于建筑设计师、工程师、房主和政策制定者了解不同室内环境中空气中纳米颗粒的排放和运输模式。这将有助于改进决策，实现保护人类健康的健康和智能建筑。作为该项目的一部分，研究者将参加联合国可持续建筑计划，为建筑环境专业的下一代全球领导者做准备。这项工作的目标是为室内空气质量控制和健康建筑制定全球标准和准则。该项目的目标是建立一个综合的室内气溶胶动力学模型的机制框架，以预测室内环境中空气中纳米颗粒的排放、分布和运输。实现这一目标的具体研究目标是：(1)建立一个基本的室内气溶胶动力学模型，该模型基于室内活动和采暖、制冷、通风操作模式，具有详细的时间和尺寸分辨源排放和损失机制；(2)在一个全尺寸的测试建筑中，通过一系列测量来验证模型并评估不确定性，这些测量将检查由于传统和新兴排放源导致的瞬态粒径分布；(3)将室内气溶胶动力学模型与计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟相结合，研究具有代表性的室内气流和源排放情景下空气颗粒物的空间分布和呼吸区浓度。本项目将为室内气溶胶的研究开辟新的方向，并在室内环境中的凝聚、沉积、一次和二次成核等方面创造新的知识。该分析模型将在一个全尺寸的测试建筑中进行测量验证，并首次与CFD模型集成，以包含建筑环境条件。该模型在全尺寸建筑上的实验验证将解决我们对室内纳米颗粒的物理、化学和运输特性的理解中的关键空白。这项研究的成功完成将允许评估人类在各种室内环境中的暴露情况，如住宅、学校和职业环境。PI将参加联合国可持续建筑计划，为建筑环境专业的下一代全球领导者做好准备。通过这一努力，PI将有助于制定室内空气质量控制和健康建筑的全球标准和准则。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Americans spend a large percentage of their lives indoors in homes, offices, and schools. Changes in the design and operations of buildings result in increasingly air-tight indoor spaces to improve energy efficiency. Such conditions increase the risk of people coming into contact with materials and consumer products that generate potentially hazardous airborne nanoparticles. It is not possible to accurately predict indoor exposure to airborne nanoparticles with the current state of transport models given the complex nature of nanoparticle aerodynamics. The goal of this CAREER project is to address this gap by developing a fundamental mechanistic model of indoor aerosol dynamics that accurately predicts the dynamic behavior of nanoparticles in buildings. Successful development of this model will help building designers, engineers, homeowners, and policy makers to understand emission and transport patterns of airborne nanoparticles in different indoor environments. This will allow improved decision-making for achieving healthy and smart buildings that protect human health. As part of this project, the investigator will participate in the United Nations Sustainable Buildings Program to prepare the next generation of global leaders in the built environment profession. The goal of this work will be to develop global standards and guidelines for indoor air quality control and healthy buildings.The goal of this project is to develop a mechanistic framework for a comprehensive indoor aerosol dynamic model to predict the emission, distribution, and transport of airborne nanoparticles in indoor environments. Specific research objectives to achieve this goal are to: (1) develop a fundamental indoor aerosol dynamic model that characterizes detailed time- and size-resolved source emission and loss mechanisms based on indoor activities and heating, cooling, ventilation operation modes; (2) validate the model and evaluate uncertainties using a series of measurements in a full-scale test building that will examine transient particle size distribution due to conventional and emerging emission sources; and (3) integrate the indoor aerosol dynamic model with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to study the spatial distribution of airborne particles and breathing zone concentrations under representative indoor air flow and source emission scenarios. This project will open up a new direction for indoor aerosol research and create new knowledge in coagulation, deposition, and primary and secondary nucleation in indoor environments. The analytical model will be validated with measurements in a full-scale test building and integrated with a CFD model for the first time to enable inclusion of building environmental conditions. Experimental validation of the model with a full-scale building will address critical gaps in our understanding of the physical, chemical, and transport characteristics of indoor nanoparticles. Successful completion of the research will allow the assessment of human exposure in a wide range of indoor environments such as residences, schools, and occupational settings. The PI will participate in the United Nations Sustainable Buildings Program to prepare the next generation of global leaders in the built environment profession. Through this effort, the PI will contribute to setting global standards and guidelines for indoor air quality control and healthy buildings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.