Analytical solution and dimensionless correlations for VOC emissions from dry building materials in static chamber

Poor indoor air quality resulting from volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions from building materials negatively affects people's comfort, health and productivity. Therefore, it is necessary to study the VOC emission characteristics. There are some methods to measure VOC emissions using static chambers. However, how to scale the emission data obtained by the static chamber method to practical conditions is an unsolved problem. This paper derives an analytical solution for VOC emission in static chamber based on Laplace transform which is validated with experimental data. The further analysis based upon the solution indicates that the dimensionless emission rate and total emission quantity are functions of just three dimensionless parameters, the ratio of mass transfer Biot number to partition coefficient, the mass transfer Fourier number and the ratio of the building material volume to chamber or room volume. A group of dimensionless correlations for estimating the dimensionless emission rate are obtained by means of numerical simulation and characteristic parameter regression, which are verified with experimental data from a static chamber. The form of the correlations is simple and it is very convenient to scale the emission data obtained by the static chamber method to practical conditions.