CO Dispersion in a Car-Repair Shop: An Experimental and CFD Modeling Study

Eleni Asimakopoulou, Dionysios Kolaitis, Maria Founti

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a highly toxic gas, which is produced by the incomplete combustion of any carbon based fuel. The level of CO concentration in indoor environments constitutes a serious health hazard for occupational safety, especially for car-repair shop employees who are exposed on a daily basis to vehicle exhaust fumes. However, the topic has not been extensively investigated, as the small number of related references found in the open literature suggests. This work focuses on the investigation of CO production and dispersion using experimental and numerical approaches. Measurements of CO concentration and ventilation air velocities have been performed in an actual operating medium-sized car-repair shop. In addition, a detailed numerical simulation of the developing transient flow field has been carried out, using the Fire Dynamics Simulator CFD code. The obtained experimental data have been used to validate the CO concentration predictions with overall good qualitative and occasionally quantitative agreement. Different levels of ventilation airflow rates have been numerically investigated; the ensuing CO concentration levels have been compared to current occupational health legislation.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 2009
EventInternational Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Minerals and Process Industries - Melbourne, Australia
Duration: 9 Dec 200911 Dec 2009
Conference number: 7
http://www.cfd.com.au/cfd_conf09/

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Minerals and Process Industries
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityMelbourne
Period9/12/0911/12/09
Internet address

Keywords

  • Environmental Flow Modelling
  • CO dispersion
  • CFD modeling
  • Experimental study

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