Building science approaches for vapor intrusion studies

Abstract

Abstract Indoor air concentrations are susceptible to temporal and spatial variations and have long posed a challenge to characterize for vapor intrusion scientists, in part, because there was a lack of evidence to draw conclusions about the role that building and weather conditions played in altering vapor intrusion exposure risks. Importantly, a large body of evidence is available within the building science discipline that provides information to support vapor intrusion scientists in drawing connections about fate and transport processes that influence exposure risks. Modeling tools developed within the building sciences provide evidence of reported temporal and spatial variation of indoor air contaminant concentrations. In addition, these modeling tools can be useful by calculating building air exchange rates (AERs) using building specific features. Combining building science models with vapor intrusion models, new insight to facilitate decision-making by estimating indoor air concentrations and building ventilation conditions under various conditions can be gained. This review highlights existing building science research and summarizes the utility of building science models to improve vapor intrusion exposure risk assessments.