Effects of Inlet Air Supply on Particle Deposition in an Office Building

This article presents an assessment on the performance of inlet air supply for improving indoor air quality in an office building room using modelling and simulation approach in COMSOL Multiphysics software. The parameters considered in this study are air velocity as inlet air supply and particle diameter. For values of air velocity varies from 0.5 m/s, 1 m/s, and 1.5 m/s. While for particle diameter varies from 0.3 μm, 2.5 μm, and 10 μm. The results of the simulation are demonstrated in the form of air velocity spectrum showing the distribution of air supply within the office building room and also to the hallway. It shows the maximum value of air velocity simulated at the door is 0.4 m/s and this is applied for transmitting particles from the office building room to the hallway. Furthermore, the simulation results indicated that an increment of ventilation rate is not an effective strategy for improving indoor air quality, this is due to the air velocity which wasn't distributed homogeneously as affected to the room geometry. Besides, even though air is a medium for particle to move, but the basic principle of particle to move and rest is only confined to the height and gravity. Thus, it needs an appropriate comprehension regarding to the air velocity distribution in order to improve indoor air quality effectively.