Analysis of Impact of Natural Ventilation Strategies in Ventilation Rates and Indoor Environmental Acoustics Using Sensor Measurement Data in Educational Buildings
Indoor environmental conditions can significantly affect occupants’ health and comfort.
These conditions are especially important in educational buildings, where students, teachers and
staff spend long periods of the day and are vulnerable to these factors. Recently, indoor air quality
has been a focus of attention to ensure that disease transmission in these spaces is minimised. In
order to increase the knowledge in this field, experimental tests have been carried out to characterise
the impact of natural ventilation strategies on indoor air quality and the acoustic environment.
This study has evaluated three ventilation scenarios in four different classrooms in buildings of the
University of Granada, considering different window and door opening configurations. Ventilation
rates were estimated using the CO2 Decay Method, and background noise recordings were made
in each classroom for acoustic tests. Results show that specific natural ventilation strategies have a
relevant impact that is worth considering on the background noise in indoor spaces. In this sense
ventilation rates provided by the different configurations varied between 3.7 and 39.8 air changes
per hour (ACH) and the acoustic tests show a background noise ranging from 43 to 54 dBA in these
scenarios. Consequently, managers and teachers should take into account not only the ACH, but also
other collateral impacts on the indoor environmental conditions such as the thermal comfort or the
acoustic environment.Consejo General de la Arquitectura Técnica (CGATE)State Research Agency (SRA) of Spain and European Regional Development Funds (ERDF)
under project PID2019-108761RB-I00
