Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Mar 19;47(6):2457-70.
doi: 10.1021/es302714g. Epub 2013 Feb 27.

A review of vapor intrusion models

Yijun Yao  1 , Rui Shen, Kelly G Pennell, Eric M Suuberg
Affiliations
Review

A review of vapor intrusion models

Yijun Yao et al. Environ Sci Technol. .

Abstract

A complete vapor intrusion (VI) model, describing vapor entry of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) into buildings located on contaminated sites, generally consists of two main parts: one part describing vapor transport in the soil and the other describing its entry into the building. Modeling the soil vapor transport part involves either analytically or numerically solving the equations of vapor advection and diffusion in the subsurface. Contaminant biodegradation must often also be included in this simulation, and can increase the difficulty of obtaining a solution, especially when explicitly considering coupled oxygen transport and consumption. The models of contaminant building entry pathway are often coupled to calculations of indoor air contaminant concentration, and both are influenced by building construction and operational features. The description of entry pathway involves consideration of building foundation characteristics, while calculation of indoor air contaminant levels requires characterization of building enclosed space and air exchange within this. This review summarizes existing VI models, and discusses the limits of current screening tools commonly used in this field.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Simulated contaminant concentration profile based on ASU 3-D numerical model (α is groundwater source vapor-to-indoor air contaminant concentration attenuation factor and Qs is soil gas entry rate) (21).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
3-D simulation results on the contaminant entry rate to sub-structure release rate for 2m (solid points) and 0.1m (open points) depth foundations. The values in the legend refer source depth (m) and results are shown for various soil permeabilities (k). Mck refers to the mass entry rate through a foundation crack, and Mreleased is total contaminant release from the source lying directly beneath the building footprint (49). Any ordinate value different from unity indicates that one basic assumption of 1-D models will lead to errors in estimates of contaminant entry rate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tillman FD, Weaver JW. Review of recent research on vapour intrusion. Washington, DC 20460: U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development; 2005. report EPA/600/R-05/106.
    1. Turczynowicz L, Robinson NI. Exposure assessment modelling for volatiles - Towards an Australian indoor vapour intrusion model. J. Toxicol. Env. Heal. A. 2007;70:1619–1634. - PubMed
    1. Provoost J, Tillman FD, Weaver JW, Reijnders L, Bronders J, Van Keer I, Swartjes F. Vapour intrusion into buildings – a literature review. In: Daniels JA, editor. Advances in Environmental Research. Volume 5. New York: Nova Science Publshers; 2010. pp. 1–43.
    1. Jury WA, Spencer WF, Farmer WJ. Behavior assessment model for trace organics in soil: I. Model description. J. Environ. Qual. 1983;12(4):558–564.
    1. Jury WA, Farmer WJ, Spencer WF. Behavior assessment model for trace organics in soil: II. Chemical classification and parameter sensitivity. J. Environ. Qual. 1984;13(4):567–572.

Publication types

MeSH terms