Abstract
Indoor environmental conditions can significantly affect occupants’ health and comfort. These conditions are especially important in educational buildings, where students, teachers and staff spend long periods of the day and are vulnerable to these factors. Recently, indoor air quality has been a focus of attention to ensure that disease transmission in these spaces is minimised. In order to increase the knowledge in this field, experimental tests have been carried out to characterise the impact of natural ventilation strategies on indoor air quality and the acoustic environment. This study has evaluated three ventilation scenarios in four different classrooms in buildings of the University of Granada, considering different window and door opening configurations. Ventilation rates were estimated using the CO2 Decay Method, and background noise recordings were made in each classroom for acoustic tests. Results show that specific natural ventilation strategies have a relevant impact that is worth considering on the background noise in indoor spaces. In this sense ventilation rates provided by the different configurations varied between 3.7 and 39.8 air changes per hour (ACH) and the acoustic tests show a background noise ranging from 43 to 54 dBA in these scenarios. Consequently, managers and teachers should take into account not only the ACH, but also other collateral impacts on the indoor environmental conditions such as the thermal comfort or the acoustic environment.
Highlights
Since people spend more than 80% of their time in indoor environments [1], if the indoor conditions are deficient, the health and comfort of the occupants may be affected [2]
Given the 6 air changes per hour (ACH) values recommended in current Spanish public policies to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, the aim of this study was to characterise their impact on the variables conditioning indoor air quality (IAQ) and the indoor acoustic environment
The background noise sound pressure levels Leq obtained in two different ventilation scenarios are shown: (1) doors and windows closed; and (2) the natural ventilation configuration that provides the ACH value required
Summary
Since people spend more than 80% of their time in indoor environments [1], if the indoor conditions are deficient, the health and comfort of the occupants may be affected [2]. In order to characterise the indoor acoustic environment in different configurations of natural ventilation strategies, the sound pressure level of the background noise was measured in the different configurations. For this purpose, a two-phase methodology was followed: in the first phase, the background noise was measured in the classroom with all doors and windows closed. In phase two, the background noise was measured with the natural ventilation configuration selected based on the experimental results of the decay method previously obtained (i.e., the configuration that provided the required ACH value). The manikin’s head was oriented towards the typical teacher’s position in the classroom
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