Building Simulation Software for Indoor Air Quality Research: A Review

In this digital era, information technology really helps the process of designing and designing a more efficient, durable, high-performance building. After the pandemic, indoor air quality (IAQ) becomes an important issue since human spend most of the time indoor, which can impact their well-being in the long term. Ventilation is considered as one of the effective strategies in order to control IAQ. However, airflow and pollutant transport are a complex mechanism, therefore it is hard to understand only by experimental method. Advance information technology nowadays can help predict the building air quality from the early design stage. This paper aims to discuss various building simulation models and the popular software used. The basic principles of three models, multizone, zonal, and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models are explained, following with their advantages and limitation. By comparing the simulation ability, accuracy, computational cost, simulation time, user skill requirement, and visual user interface, architect and researcher can choose the right simulation model according to their needs, in designing building which emit less pollutant and provide enough ventilation for contaminants discharge.