Measurements and modeling of environmental tobacco smoke leakage from a simulated smoking room

The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of various design and operating parameters on smoking room performance. Twenty-eight experiments were conducted in a simulated smoking room with a smoking machine and an automatic door opener. Measurements were made of air flows, pressures, temperatures, two particle-phase ETS tracers, two gas-phase ETS tracers, and sulfur hexafluoride. Quantification of leakage flows, the effect of these leaks on smoking room performance and non-smoker exposure, and the relative importance of each leakage mechanism are presented. The results indicate that the first priority for an effective smoking room is to depressurize it with respect to adjoining non-smoking areas. Another important ETS leakage mechanism is the pumping action of the smoking room door. Substituting a sliding door for a standard swing-type door reduced this source of ETS leakage significantly. Measured results correlated well with model predictions (R2 = 0.82-0.99).