Journal
The standards for indoor air quality (IAQ) are essential for setting minimum ventilation rates for buildings to ensure a healthy environment for everyone. However, the prescriptive and mostly consensus-based recommendations in the codes and standards are not sufficient to address the details of ventilation design. In addition to the ventilation rates, the indoor airflow patterns and the resulting flow path of airborne contaminants can significantly affect the quality of air in the breathing zones of occupants. This article demonstrates how the science of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can help analyze and optimize the ventilation designs. CFD analyses, along with the Spread Index—a ventilation effectiveness metric—can complement the codes and standards to create more comprehensive and human-centric ventilation designs.