Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

Pollutants, especially dust, are rarely uniformly distributed within ventilated air spaces due to non‐uniform flow fields, particle inertia, gravitational settling, and diffusion. Thus, selecting suitable sampling locations for representative sampling is a challenge. The objective of this study was to determine the spatial and temporal distributions of dust and ammonia concentrations(NH3) in a swine building. Results of this study are useful in the design of sampling strategies that require limited sampling locations and in studying pollutant transport. This study was conducted in a commercial swine building in Illinois. The total suspended particulate (TSP) matter and ammonia concentrations were measured at 50 and 30 indoor sampling locations in December and June, respectively. Results showed that the average TSP concentrations ranged from 0.86 to 3.81 mg m‐3 in December and from 0.24 to 1.68 mg m‐3 in June. In December, the dust gradient across the length of the building was more pronounced than along its length. In June, the gradient along the length of the building was more pronounced, resulting in essentially uniform concentration in a cross‐section. The spatial distributions of the TSP concentrations in both December and June were essentially symmetrical about the longitudinal section of the building. The spatial gradient of NH3 concentrations was more pronounced along the length of the building in December, while the spatial distribution was almost uniform in June. These results suggest that the choice of representative sampling locations indoors will vary depending on the air movement in the building, which is dictated by the ventilation scheme.

Comments

Jerez, S.B. Y. Zhang, and X. Wang. 2011. Spatial and temporal distributions of dust and ammonia concentrations in a swine building. Transactions of the ASABE 54(5):1873-1892.


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