Is the air change efficiency sufficient to assess the removal of airborne contamination in mixing ventilation?

Abstract

This investigation analyze the correlation between two common methods to assess the ventilation effectiveness: An averaged contamination removal effectiveness (CRE) value based on the residual lifetime and the air change efficiency (ACE) to better understand their relationship to then give a recommendation for the IAQ-assessment of ventilation designs. The present numerical investigation puts focus on a simple mixing ventilation scenario with different conditions: air change rate, specific heat flux, supply air diffuser and exhaust position. Statistically, the results show a significant correlation. A detailed consideration, especially for the partial load range, will be necessary to for a valide determination of removing airborne contamination