Study on Characteristics of Particulate Matter Resuspension in School Classroom through Experiments Using a Simulation Chamber: Influence of Humidity

• Main Authors: Sunghee Cho, Gahye Lee, Duckshin Park, Minjeong Kim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: particulate matter; resuspension; relative humidity; resuspension factor; occupants’ activity; classroom
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2856
• ISSN: 1661-7827; 1660-4601

Resuspension of particulate matter (PM) in classrooms, which increases the risk of negative impact on student health from exposure to PM, is influenced by humidity level in the indoor environment. The goal of this study is to investigate the properties of PM resuspension in accordance with relative humidity through classroom test chamber experiments. In actual classrooms, it is challenging to control factors influencing resuspension. Therefore, the classroom chamber that reflects the environment of elementary school classroom (e.g., structure, floor material) is used in this study. The humidity of the classroom chamber is adjusted to 35%, 55%, 75%, and 85% by placing it inside a real-size environmental chamber, which allows artificial control of climatic conditions. At the respective humidity conditions, PM resuspension concentration and resuspension factor caused by occupant walking across the classroom chamber are analyzed. The results show that both of the resuspension concentration and resuspension factor reveal a linear negative correlation to humidity increase. Furthermore, coefficient of determination (R²) indicating goodness-of-fit of the linear regression model between the resuspension concentration and humidity is 0.88 for PM₁₀ and 0.93 for PM_2.5. It implies that accuracy of the regression model for estimating PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 resuspension concentrations is 88% and 93%, respectively.