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A Software Tool for Analyzing Building Airflow and Airborne CBR Agent Concentrations | NIST
Contaminant concentrations that result within buildings in response to airborne chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) events are due to a complex interaction between the building construction, ventilation system performance and weather conditions. The analysis of such events requires a tool that can address this complex interaction on a whole-building scale. CONTAM is a public domain multizone airflow and contaminant transport software tool developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. CONTAM provides the ability to define building models that capture the multizone nature of building airflows including the impacts of ventilation systems, contaminant source and removal mechanisms, and weather conditions. The program has been applied over the past decade for both design and analysis of building systems in the areas of indoor air quality, building ventilation, smoke management, and more recently, CBR-related events. This paper will present an overview of the CONTAM program and its applicability to building-related CBR events.
Calculation of and Errors in the Susceptibility
The measurement of the susceptibility requires three measurements, two of which have to be performed with a substance of known susceptibility. The difference of these last two measurements furnishes the proportionality constant of the apparatus, always employing the same volume, while the difference with the unknown substance gives the required susceptibility.