Assessing the “sufficient ventilation” requirement for Austrian buildings: development of a Monte Carlo based spreadsheet calculation to estimate airing intervals and mould risk in window ventilated buildings

Abstract

Abstract In Austria the lack of guidelines or standards has caused many discussions and disputes on the question if “sufficient ventilation” can be ensured with window airing only, in particular in newly constructed, airtight residential buildings. This work presents the development of a calculation method aiming to provide a simple-to-use tool to estimate the risk of mould growth and the window airing interval required to ensure good indoor air quality assuming a range of different boundary conditions and occupant behaviours. The method implements a Monte Carlo approach calculating 1000 single zone mass balances for carbon dioxide (on a room level) and water vapor (on a housing level). Air infiltration through the building envelope is accounted using the so-called LBL-model. The time interval between window airing required to comply with CO2 limit value is estimated by calculating the time evolution of the CO2 concentration for 1000 different parameter combinations. The mould risk is estimated by a 1000-fold calculation of the daily averaged indoor air humidity and the resulting water activity on critical wall surfaces. The results are displayed as probability distributions providing information on the risk that the queried situation can or cannot ensure “sufficient ventilation”. Exemplary calculations for bedrooms of new multifamily buildings estimate that intervals between window airing events (to keep time-averaged CO2-concentration below 1000 ppm), will vary between 23 and 190 minutes (representing the 5th and the 95th percentile). This is clearly below an acceptable intervention interval for bedrooms. For living rooms, the assessment shows a strong sensitivity on the “accessible” air volume. The humidity assessment for this type of housing suggests that mould growth could occur in about 17% of the cases even though air exchange corresponding to two airing events per day were assumed. An additional outdoor air exchange of up to 40 m³/h would be required to reduce the mould risk fraction to <1%, suggesting the need for mechanical ventilation concepts in residential housing to enable healthy indoor environment independently of occupant behaviour.