During the current COVID-19 pandemic, airborne transmission of the virus through exhaled aerosols is a likely explanation for the rapid rate of new infections. The risk of infection with COVID-19 could be reduced by employing feasible measures in public buildings, such as smart and enhanced Heating, Ventilation, and Air- conditioning (HVAC) design and operations, higher humidity levels, surface cleaning and hygiene protocols, revised spatial configuration, etc. This project aims to investigate a novel smart ventilation control strategy using a CO2-based indicator to operate under a normal mode and a pandemic mode as appropriate for common public buildings (e.g., office buildings, classroom buildings, retail stores). These buildings are designed and operated in normal conditions by default. The question to be studied is that, with the current HVAC equipment and systems already installed in existing public buildings, can operations be modified via smart ventilation control by diluting the air in a space with cleaner air from outdoors to reduce infection risk for occupants.
Ventilation controls in public buildings under a pandemic represent significant challenges. In this project, the research team will look into the problem of potentially reducing infection risk with coronavirus through three objectives: 1) Obtain a minimum ventilation rate for different HVAC systems in most common public buildings to potentially reduce infection risk through a risk analysis with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations; 2) Establish a scientific correlation between CO2 concentration with the potential infection risk in spaces in public buildings to better monitor the infection risk with numerical studies and limited field experiments; and 3) Evaluate a novel smart ventilation control strategy that can switch between normal operation and operation under a pandemic through a co-simulation of energy performance and CFD simulations. COVID-19 has generated immense social-economic impact, which may be mitigated by the proposed smart ventilation control in public buildings to reduce the risk of being infected with COVID-19 during occupation of public 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.
