A numerical study on the performance evaluation of ventilation systems for indoor radon reduction

Numerical simulations were conducted using computational fluid dynamics to evaluate the effect of ventilation conditions on radon (222Rn) reduction performance in a residential building. The results indicate that at the same ventilation rate, a mechanical ventilation system is more effective in reducing indoor radon than a natural ventilation system. For the same ventilation type, the indoor radon concentration decreases as the ventilation rate increases. When the air change per hour (ACH) was 1, the indoor radon concentration was maintained at less than 100 Bq/m3. However, when the ACH was lowered to 0.01, the average indoor radon concentration in several rooms exceeded 148 Bq/m3. The angle of the inflow air was found to affect the indoor air stream and consequently the distribution of the radon concentration. Even when the ACH was 1, the radon concentrations of some areas were higher than 100 Bq/m3 for inflow air angles of 5° and 175°.