Validation of multizone IAQ modelling of residential-scale buildings: a review.

Empirical validation studies of the application of multizone indoor air quality models to residential-scale buildings are reviewed here. The focus is on empirical verification efforts. Models have also been subjected to analytical verification and inter-model comparisons. Not many of the empirical verifications reported statistical analyses of the comparison between measurements and predictions. Additional statistical analyses have been performed and reported if sufficient data were available in the literature. Measurement uncertainty was not dealt with in most of the published reports. States that due to limitations in scope, inadequate detail describing experimental and/or modelling procedures, lack of rigorous statistical analysis, inclusion of only small ranges of airflows and concentrations, questions on independence of validation dataset, and other shortcomings, no single reported multizone IAQ model validation effort can be considered to be complete. On the other hand, when the body of published work is considered, a conclusion can be drawn that a knowledgeable user can expect to make reasonable predictions of air change rates, interzonal flow, and contaminant concentrations for residential-scale buildings dominated by stack-driven or ventilation flows with inert pollutants. On the other hand, it seems that more work is needed for applications with high wind speeds, reactive contaminants, or specialised situations. Recommends that more statistical analyses are performed and more detail on both the measurement and modelling are reported to ensure that future model validation efforts are useful.