Methane Vapor Intrusion Case Study: Interpretation of Complex Environmental Data

Goreham, John; Matson, Jack V.; Pearson, W N

doi:10.1039/9781782628347-00067

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Previous studies demonstrate indoor air pollution due to the migration of contaminant vapors (e.g. radon, non‐aqueous phase liquids, methane, CO 2 ) into adjacent buildings thus affecting the health and safety of the occupants . Characteristically, methane is a poisonous and highly flammable gas (NPFA Hazard rating = 4; a severe flammability).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…radon, non-aqueous phase liquids, methane, CO 2 ) into adjacent buildings thus affecting the health and safety of the occupants. [16][17][18][19][20][21] Characteristically, methane is a poisonous and highly flammable gas (NPFA Hazard rating = 4; a severe flammability). Overexposure to methane may cause suffocation with symptoms of headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and loss of consciousness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of varying atmospheric conditions on methane boundary‐layer development in a free flow domain interfaced with a porous media domain

2017

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Mitigation of atmospheric emission of methane from leaky underground infrastructure is important for controlling the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas burden. Overexposure to methane may also cause occupational health problems in indoor/outdoor environments at the local scale. Subsurface soil conditions (e.g. soil heterogeneity) affect methane migration in soils while near‐surface atmospheric boundary conditions (e.g. wind and temperature) affect off‐site emissions across the soil‐atmosphere interface. This study investigated the above‐surface methane concentration boundary‐layer development under different soil conditions (homogenous and layered) and atmospheric boundary controls (wind and temperature). A series of controlled bench‐scale experiments was conducted using an open‐loop boundary‐layer wind tunnel interfaced with a porous media tank inside which a simulated methane point source was embedded to mimic a buried leaky pipeline. Results revealed pronounced effects of wind and, to a lesser extent, temperature on above‐surface methane boundary‐layer development. High atmospheric temperature contributed to the concentration boundary‐layer build‐up whereas high wind velocity caused erosion of the boundary layer. The boundary‐layer methane concentration profiles were adequately simulated within an advection‐diffusion modeling framework combined with a Navier‐Stokes free flow domain by coupling free air flow, heat flow and flow of a multicomponent gas mixture. Simulations further implied that the Fickian diffusion approach may have limited applications when pronounced non‐isothermal conditions prevail within the system. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of varying atmospheric conditions on methane boundary‐layer development in a free flow domain interfaced with a porous media domain

2017

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“…With the growing awareness of the problem, as evidenced by numerous studies of the problem in the past two years, e.g. (Beckley et al, 2014; Brusseau et al, 2013; Dawson, 2013; Goreham et al, 2014; Holton et al, 2015; Johnson et al, 2014; Johnston and Gibson, 2014; Jourabchi et al, 2013; Lowe et al, 2015; Marchant, 2014; Perron et al, 2013; Schumacher and Zimmerman, 2013; Verginelli and Baciocchi, 2014; Yao et al, 2013c; Yao et al, 2015), there remains a strong impetus to better quantitatively characterize vapor intrusion processes.…”

Section: Introduction and Review Of Transient Indoor Air Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of changes of indoor air pressure and air exchange rate in vapor intrusion scenarios

Shen

Suuberg

2016

Building and Environment

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There has, in recent years, been increasing interest in understanding the transport processes of relevance in vapor intrusion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into buildings on contaminated sites. These studies have included fate and transport modeling. Most such models have simplified the prediction of indoor air contaminant vapor concentrations by employing a steady state assumption, which often results in difficulties in reconciling these results with field measurements. This paper focuses on two major factors that may be subject to significant transients in vapor intrusion situations, including the indoor air pressure and the air exchange rate in the subject building. A three-dimensional finite element model was employed with consideration of daily and seasonal variations in these factors. From the results, the variations of indoor air pressure and air exchange rate are seen to contribute to significant variations in indoor air contaminant vapor concentrations. Depending upon the assumptions regarding the variations in these parameters, the results are only sometimes consistent with the reports of several orders of magnitude in indoor air concentration variations from field studies. The results point to the need to examine more carefully the interplay of these factors in order to quantitatively understand the variations in potential indoor air exposures.

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Methane Vapor Intrusion Case Study: Interpretation of Complex Environmental Data

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Effect of varying atmospheric conditions on methane boundary‐layer development in a free flow domain interfaced with a porous media domain

Effect of varying atmospheric conditions on methane boundary‐layer development in a free flow domain interfaced with a porous media domain

Impacts of changes of indoor air pressure and air exchange rate in vapor intrusion scenarios

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