A numerical method to determine the steady state distribution of passive contaminant in generic ventilation systems

► A versatile numerical method to determine the contaminant distribution of ventilation system with recirculation at steady state is proposed based on typical ventilation systems with accessibility of supply air (ASA) and accessibility of contaminant source (ACS). ► The proposed method has comparable accuracy with the experiment and numerical simulation to predict the contaminant distribution in ventilation systems with recirculation at steady state. ► The proposed method is much more time-saving than numerical iteration method when a large amount of cases are needed to calculate. The lumped parameter model does not take the information of the source location and flow pattern into account, so it may cause large discrepancy with the real values. ► The advantages of the proposed method in terms of accuracy, speed and versatility make it possible to be widely applied for complex ventilation systems with recirculation.