Designing building ventilation for epidemic and disaster preparedness

Epidemic and disaster preparedness of buildings and systems is a key area of concern. The study of how building ventilation and airtightness may contribute to disaster preparedness can lead to better guidelines for the design and operation of ventilation systems under exceptional hazardous conditions, including hazards related to infectious aerosols. During the COVID-19 pandemic it became clear that most buildings were neither designed nor operated in a way that sufficiently managed the infection risk associated with airborne pathogens.

Disaster preparedness consists of a set of measures undertaken in advance to better respond to the occurrence of disasters. It plays an important role in creating resilient buildings.

In relation to airborne infection risk, organisations such as ASHRAE and REHVA developed guidelines during and after the pandemic to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission. More recently, ASHRAE published Standard 241-2023, Control of Infectious Aerosols, which establishes minimum requirements aimed at reducing the risk of disease transmission through exposure to infectious aerosols in buildings. The standard encompasses a wide range of requirements covering air system design, installation, operation, and maintenance to create a building operating mode when increased protection from infectious aerosol exposure is needed. However, there is still a need to develop examples illustrating the application of the standard to specific case studies.

Furthermore, to broaden the scope from epidemic preparedness to disaster preparedness of building ventilation in general, including hazards such as wildfires and heat waves, it is necessary to develop relevant design metrics, and a methodological framework to define and quantify hazards, and resilience in ventilation performance.

This project aims to:

• Develop resilience indicators to define and quantify resilience in ventilation performance during hazardous events
• Develop guidelines for the design of building ventilation for epidemic preparedness, illustrated through case studies and based on the requirements of ASHRAE Standard 241-2023