☆ 4.7 Article

Assessment of ventilation rates inside educational buildings in Southwestern Europe: Analysis of implemented strategic measures

JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING (2022)

Journal

JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING

Volume 51, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER

DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104204

Keywords

Buildings; Ventilation assessment; Safety management; Indoor environmental quality; Well-being

Funding

Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades of Spain
Consejo General de la Arquitectura Tecnica (CGATE)
Junta de Andalucia (Spain) [B-TEP-362-UGR18]
State Research Agency (SRA) of Spain
European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) [PID2019-108761RB-I00]
Universidad de Granada/CBUA

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of ensuring good indoor air quality. This study conducted a measurement campaign to assess ventilation rates and strategies in educational buildings in Portugal and Spain. The results showed that selecting appropriate ventilation strategies can provide sufficient air renewal and reduce the risk of infection.

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has highlighted the need to ensure good indoor air quality. Public buildings (educational buildings in particular) have come under the spotlight because students, teachers and staff spend long periods of the day indoors. This study presents a measurement campaign for the assessment of ventilation rate (VR) and ventilation strategies in educational buildings in Southwestern Europe, Portugal and Spain. A representative sample of the teaching spaces of the Azure & PRIME;m Campus (Guimara & SIM;es, Portugal) and the Fuentenueva Campus (Granada, Spain) have been analyzed. Natural ventilation is the predominant ventilation strategy in these spaces, being the most common strategy in educational buildings in Europe. VR was estimated under different configurations, using the CO2 decay method. Subsequently, the CO2 concentration was estimated according to occupancy and the probability of infection risk was calculated using the Wells-Riley equation. The obtained VR varied between 2.9 and 20.1 air change per hour (ACH) for natural cross ventilation, 2.0 to 5.1 ACH for single-sided ventilation and 1.8 to 3.5 for mechanically ventilated classrooms. Large differences in CO2 concentrations were verified, depending on the analyzed ventilation strategy, ranging from 475 to 3903 ppm for the different scenarios. However, the probability of risk was less than 1% in almost all of the classrooms analyzed. The results obtained from the measurement campaign showed that the selection of an appropriate ventilation strategy can provide sufficient air renewal and maintain a low risk of infection. Ventilation strategies need to be reconsidered as a consequence of the health emergency arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Indoor acoustic quality of educational buildings in South West Europe: Influence of current ventilation strategies

Antonio J. Aguilar, Maria Luisa de la Hoz-Torres, Nelson Costa, Pedro Arezes, Ma Dolores Martinez-Aires, Diego P. Ruiz

Summary: The quality of the classroom environment has a significant impact on the physical and mental health of students and teachers. This study highlights the potential negative effects of ventilation protocols on acoustic conditions in classrooms, as well as the importance of considering the synergy between indoor acoustic and air quality conditions to ensure optimal learning environments.

JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING (2023)