CONTAM Introduction

• (a) airflows: infiltration, exfiltration, and room-to-room airflows in building systems driven by mechanical means, wind pressures acting on the exterior of the building, and buoyancy effects induced by the indoor and outdoor air temperature difference.
• (b) contaminant concentrations: the dispersal of airborne contaminants transported by these airflows; transformed by a variety of processes including chemical and radio-chemical transformation, adsorption and desorption to building materials, filtration, and deposition to building surfaces, etc.; and generated by a variety of source mechanisms, and/or
• (c) personal exposure: the prediction of exposure of occupants to airborne contaminants.

CONTAM can be useful in a variety of applications. Its ability to calculate building airflow rates and relative pressures between zones of the building is useful for assessing the adequacy of ventilation rates in a building, for determining the variation in ventilation rates over time, for determining the distribution of ventilation air within a building, and for estimating the impact of envelope air-tightening efforts on infiltration rates and associated energy implications.  CONTAM can has been dynamically coupled with energy analysis programs including EnergyPlus and TRNSYS. The program has been used extensively for the design and analysis of smoke management systems. The prediction of contaminant concentrations can be used to determine the indoor air quality performance of buildings before they are constructed and occupied, to investigate the impacts of various design decisions related to ventilation systems and building material selection, to evaluate indoor air quality control technologies, and to assess the indoor air quality performance of existing buildings. Predicted contaminant concentrations can also be used to estimate personal exposure based on occupancy patterns within a building model.