Methodology for the in situ characterisation of soil vapor contaminants and their impact on the indoor air quality of buildings

Abstract

This study presents a fast and nonintrusive in situ methodology to characterise the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) fluxes of contaminated sites and to quantify their intrusion into future buildings built on these sites. It could be used to conduct exhaustive ground pre-characterisation and indoor air assessments for future on-site buildings. The methodology involved the use of a specific apparatus called the “experimental box”, representing convective and diffusive transfers of soil gas pollutants into buildings, to quantify an equivalent homogeneous concentration of the contaminant in the soil gas. Furthermore, this equivalent homogeneous concentration was used to quantify the indoor air pollutant concentration in a future building using an analytical transfer model associated with a numerical ventilation model. This methodology was applied on an experimental site. A critical analysis highlights its interest as a powerful complementary tool to constitute complementary support for decision-making methods and for human health risk assessment.