Gaseous pollutant transport from an underground parking garage in a Mediterranean multi-story building—Effect of temporal resolution under varying weather conditions

Indoor air dynamics and quality in high density residential buildings can be complex as it is affected by both building parameters, pollution sources, and outdoor meteorological conditions. The present study used CONTAM simulations to investigate the intra-building transport and concentration of an inert pollutant continuously emitted from an underground garage of a 15-floor building under moderate Mediterranean weather. The effects of outdoor meteorological conditions (air temperature, wind speed and direction) on indoor distribution of the emitted pollutant was tested under constant conditions. The importance of using actual transient meteorological data and the impact of their temporal resolution on calculated concentrations and exposure levels were also investigated. Vertical profiles of air exchange rate (AER) and CO concentration were shown to be sensitive to indoor-outdoor temperature difference, which controls the extent of the stack effect and its importance relative to wind effect. Even under constant conditions, transient mode simulations revealed that the time needed for pollutant distribution to reach steady state can be quite long (>24h in some cases). The temporal resolution (1h vs. 8h) of the meteorological data input was also found to impact calculated exposure levels, in an extent that varied with time, meteorological conditions and apartment position.