Tracer gas mixing with air

The tracer gas method is one of the most widely used methods for measuring flow rates for building air infiltration and ventilation. The accuracy of this method depends vitally on the spatial uniformity of the tracer/air mixing. However, information on this critical problem has been scarce, largely due to the practical difficulty in experimentally obtaining data. In the last decade a new tool for building research has emerged, namely computational fluid dynamics or CFD. A study of tracer/air mixing has been carried out using a time dependent CFD method, supported by conceptual/dimensional analysis. In this study, 12 cases of tracer/air mixing in simulated tracer decay tests were computed. Each case had a different zonal volume or other boundary or initial conditions. By comparing these results, it was found that there were many factors affecting tracer/air mixing and, contrary to a previous report, there does not exist a universal critical value of air change rate below which satisfactory mixing is guaran...