Human EXposure to Aerosol Contaminants in Modern Microenvironments
Sponsor
HEXACOMM project is under the EU Seventh Framework Programme (Marie Curie Action)
Overview
The main research goal of HEXACOMM is to apply computational modeling and experimental methods to relate concentrations of particulate matter in the indoor domestic environment to its sources and human exposure implications. For this purpose, the PhD and Post Doc projects will focus on targeted indoor air quality measurements, source apportionment studies, microenvironmental modelling, dosimetry modelling and exposure studies.
HEXACOMM has 3 complementary research objectives (ROs):
RO1: to improve our comprehension of the sources, emission rates, source apportionment methodologies, mechanisms and concentration characteristics of aerosols in the indoor environment including nanoparticles and their chemical composition and bioaerosols.
RO2: to develop an understanding of the impact of indoor particulate matter on human exposure. An important component will be the development of methods via which exposure of those sectors of the population considered as most susceptible to the health impacts of air pollution can be monitored. Exposure via inhalation of indoor air will be studied both at the individual and the population level. Different aerosol metric parameters will be employed to determine human exposure.
RO3: to advance our knowledge of the indoor aerosol exposure at specific modern microenvironments (a) urban houses (b) modern offices (c) metro stations and (d) industry (Occupational exposure to engineered nanoparticles).
The role of the UCY-CompSci in the HEXACOMM project is to develop numerical simulation methods for high-fidelity modeling of aerosol deposition in the human respiratory system. We carry out Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of particle laden turbulent flow during the respiratory cycle. Simulations will be based on a highly-scalable Navier-Stokes solver and will be carried out on a High-Performance Computing (HPC) facility featuring 1000 computing cores that is available at UCY-CompSci.