INFLUENCE OF TRAFFIC ON INDOOR AIR

QUALITY OF NATURALLY AND

MECHANICALLY VENTILATED BUILDING

LOCATED NEAR AN URBAN ROADWAY

Rohit J, Chithra V.S, Kishore Kumar M,

Shiva Nagendra S.M and Sivanandan R

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

IIT MADRAS

Introduction

Over the past decades there hasbeen a rapid increase in Motorvehicle population in Indian cities.

Vehicular emissions are the mainsource of air pollution in urbanenvironment.

Vehicular air pollutants such ascarbon monoxide(CO),oxides ofnitrogen(NOx), hydrocarbons(HC),and particulate matter(PM)concentrations in many urban areasare sufficiently high to causeadverse health effects.

Traffic 71%

Domestic9%

Industries 20%

Air pollution load of Chennai city

Motor Vehicle Fleet Growth

Continued…

Particulate matter and CO has been identified as major vehicular pollutants in many urban areas.

Exposure to particulates with aerodynamic diameter less than10micron is associated with higher rates of mortality and morbidity.

Fine particles can penetrate deep into the human respiratory systems and cause lung cancer, aggravated asthma and mortality

Excess intake of CO concentrations can

cause acute CO intoxication since it disrupts

the transfer of oxygen to human tissues.

Continued…

People spend about 90 percent of their time in indoors.

Outdoor air pollutant concentrations were having significant impact on indoor air quality of buildings located close proximity to traffic (Wjst et.al 1993; Van et.al 1998; Fischer et.al 2000; Dainius et.al 2008).

Several studies indicated that indoor air pollutant concentrations are often higher than that of outdoor concentrations.

In India only limited studies are available regarding the effect of outdoor traffic on indoor air quality.

AIM

The Aim of this research work is to study the influence

of traffic related emissions on indoor air quality in

naturally and mechanically ventilated buildings

located close to busy roadway in Chennai city.

About Chennai

Chennai (E80o14’51” and N13o03’40”)situated on the shores of the Bay of Bengalis the capital of the Tamil Nadu state .

Fourth largest metropolis in India.

Chennai lies on the thermal equator andmost of the year it is hot and humid.

The hottest time period is typically May-Junewith a maximum temperature of about 42o C

Coolest period is January with a minimumtemperature of about 20oC

Chennai gets most of the rainfall from thenorth east monsoon (mid September to midDecember)

Chennai city Area : 174 Sq.Km

Elevation above the sea level: 6 m

Population: 4.68 million (2011 census)

Floating population: about 20 lakhs

Study area

• Kendriya Vidhyalaya School at Central Leather Research Institute campus

• Ramco Systems

Location of School

Location of Office

building

Continued…

The School has strength of nearly 1000 students and offers education from pre- school to 12th class in two different buildings.

The study room is in the primary block; occupied by 43 pupils.

Ramco Systems is an 11 storied building, which is mechanically ventilated with centralized air conditioning system.

The study room is in 2nd floor of the building with an occupancy of 120 employees.

Monitoring instruments

Dust Monitor Model 1.108

(PM10, PM2.5, PM1)Dust Monitor Model 1.107

(PM10, PM2.5, PM1)

Indoor air quality meter

(CO, CO2, T, RH)

Wind monitor (wind

speed, wind direction, T)

IAQ

parameters

Monitoring

Instruments

Working

principle/

Sensor type

Accura

cy

Particulate

matter (PM10,

PM2.5, PM1)

GRIMM Dust

Monitor

Light

scattering

±2%

Carbon

monoxide

Indoor Air

Quality Meter

Electrochemi

cal

±3%

CO2

Indoor Air

Quality Meter

Non

dispersive

infrared

(NDIR)

±3%

Temperature Thermistor 0.1°C

Relative

humidity

Thin film

capacitive

±3%

Wind speed

wind monitor

Anemometer

Wind

direction

Potentiometr

ic sensor

Temperature Thermistor

Traffic Monitoring

Traffic count at SP road was carried out for one week.

Video recording of the diurnal traffic followed by manual counting.

Results: Particulate matter Concentration - Office Building

0

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100

120

0am

-1am

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-9am

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20pm

-21pm

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Co

nc

en

tra

tio

n (

µg

/m3)

PM 10 PM 2.5 PM 1.0

Particulate matter Concentration - School Building

0

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20pm

-21pm

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Co

nc

en

tra

tio

n (

µg

/m3)

PM 10 PM 2.5 PM 1.0

CO Concentration – School and office

building

0.00

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0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

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Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

CO

(p

pm

)

CO Concentration was observed as below detectable limit (BDL) for all the days in

the office building

CO2 Concentration – School and office

building

Building Statistics CO2 concentration

(ppm)

School

Average 259

Max 426

Min 208

STDEV 46

Office

Average 546

Max 1274

Min 249

STDEV 303

CO2 exceeded 1000 ppm in office building shows inadequate

ventilation

Comparison with NAAQS

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Co

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g/m

3

PM 10 PM 2.5 PM 1.0

PM 10 NAAQS PM 2.5 NAAQS

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PM 10 PM 2.5 PM 1.0

PM 10 NAAQS PM 2.5 NAAQS

Office school

Traffic characteristics

140000

145000

150000

155000

160000

165000

170000

175000

180000

Weekends weekdaysN

o o

f V

ehic

les

Total Vehicular Count (TVC)

TVC

weekend

2W 3W car van bus truck

Weekday2W 3W car van bus truck

PM VS TVC: Office Building

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Time of the Day

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Time of the day

PM 10 PM 2.5 PM 1.0 TVC

Weekend Weekday

Coarse PM VS TVC: School Building

Weekend Weekday

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Time of the day

PM 10 TVC

Fine PM and TVC: School Building

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PM 2.5 PM 1.0 TVC

Weekend Weekday

CO VS TVC: School Building

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14000

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Time of the day

CO Concentration TVC

Conclusions

The IAQ parameters (PM10, PM2.5, PM1, CO, CO2, relative humidity and temperature) were monitored in a naturally and mechanically ventilated buildings.

Among the indoor air pollutants monitored, PM concentrations were found to be significant in the classroom than the office building.

It was found that most of the days the indoor PM10 and PM2.5 levels in school building were exceeding the NAQQS.

Since there was no significant indoor source of particles human activity seems to be an important factor accounting for elevated indoor levels of coarse particles.

The finer PM fractions and CO in the indoor air has significantly influenced by vehicular emissions.

References

Bartlett, K.H., Kennedy, S.M., Brauer, M., Netten, C.V. and Dill, B. (2004)

Evaluation and Determinants of Airborne Bacterial Concentrations in

School Classrooms, Journal of Occupational and Environmental

Hygiene, 1, 639–647.

Fromme H., Twardella D., Dietrich S., Heitmann D., Schierl R., Liebl B. and

Ruden H. (2007), Particulate matter in the indoor air of classrooms—

exploratory results from Munich and surrounding area, Atmospheric

Environment, Vol. 41, pp.854–86.

Ramachandran, G., Adgate, J. L., Banerjee, S., Church, T.

R., Jones, D., Fredrickson, A and Sexton, K. (2005) Indoor Air Quality in

Two Urban Elementary Schools—Measurements of Airborne Fungi, Carpet

Allergens, CO2, Temperature, and Relative Humidity, Journal of

Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 2, 553–566.

Wjst, M., Reitmeir, P., Dold, S., Wulff, A., Nicolai, T., Von L.E. and Mutius

E., (1993), Road traffic and adverse effects on respiratory health in

children. British Medical Journal, Vol. 307, pp. 596-600.

Thank you