Modelling and measurement of soil gas flow.

There are two main soil gases of current concern to human health. These are radon, which is a carcinogen, and landfill gas, which is explosive and toxic. Both can be found at significant levels in the soil below buildings in certain locations in the country. It is a responsibility of the Building Research Establishment to find cost effective ways to protect new and existing buildings from the entry of these gases into buildings. These findings are applied in real housing through advice given to builders and householders and through changes to the Building Regulations. As part of the process of designing effective remedial measures it is necessary to understand how these gases move within the soil, how they enter buildings, and how these processes can be controlled. Modelling and experiments play an important part in this process alongside direct field trials of remedial measures. This report extends and develops various theoretical modelling studies to evaluate experiments carried out at BRE and on other sites. They cover a range of different aspects of soil gas flow, and can have potential applications in related fields, particularly heat transfer.