Plum Rain-Season-Oriented Modelling and Intervention of Indoor Humidity with and without Human Occupancy

Abstract

The plum rain season, caused by precipitation along a persistent stationary Mei-Yu front in East Asia, creates favorable temperatures and relative humidity (RH) for mold growth indoors. This paper investigates the effects of human occupancy on indoor humidity and investigates the efficient RH reduction methods to prevent mold growth in moist climates. The research is carried out based on a case study which compares a family-occupied home and another unoccupied one during typical plum rain season in Nanjing. Firstly, by analyzing the factors that can influence the indoor air RH, this paper develops a comprehensive model to evaluate the efficiency of various RH intervention methods. Secondly, this paper collects the meteorological data in Nanjing at different time scales, from days to hours. Thirdly, a specific case study is carried out based on the model and data. The results show that dehumidification and heating can always reduce RH below the critical value under which the mold growth could be inhibited. However, the effects of ventilation are more sophisticated and depend upon the human occupancy, outdoor air temperature, and air change per hour (ACH). In certain unoccupied cases, the ventilation may be inappropriate and may continuously bring moisture outside into the indoor environment, which has adverse effects on mold suppression. In the occupied cases, the condition changes significantly because the human is deemed as an internal source of heat and moist. Special care should be exercised for occupied ventilation in order to determine the optimal ACH and appropriate outdoor temperatures. Finally, some guidance is given to prevent mold growth in the general area that suffers from the plum rain season.