Development and applications of CFD simulations in support of air quality studies involving buildings

There is a need to properly develop the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods in support of air quality studies involving pollution sources near buildings at industrial sites. CFD models are emerging as a promising technology for such assessments, in part due to the advancing power of computational hardware and software. CFD simulations have the potential to yield more accurate solutions than other methodologies because it is a solution of the fundamental physics equations and includes the effects of detailed three-dimensional geometry and local environmental conditions. However, the tools are not well validated for environmental flows and best-practice methodologies have not been established. Fluent, Inc and the US EPA National Exposure Research Laboratory are working cooperatively to demonstrate CFD model simulations as a proven and applied tool in support of environmental assessment studies. See also Huber et al 2000a, 2000b, and 2001 for additional perspectives related to this project.