2015 Volume 6 Issue 2 Pages 111-114
A wide variety of chemical substances are used in university chemical laboratories. In order to prevent experimenters from being exposed by hazardous chemicals, precise analysis of dynamics of the airflow in laboratories is important for the risk management of chemicals in laboratory. Though the design of experimental laboratory has such characteristic features as to be modified frequently and arbitrarily according to the research purposes and subjects, ventilation state is not sufficiently considered in the design and utilization of chemical laboratory.In this study, a numerical analysis by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was conducted to comprehend how ventilation systems impact on the airflow and how changes of the airflow affect diffusion of chemical. In addition, the actual airflow was visualized by smoke test and analyzed by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), the result of which was validated by comparing with the result of CFD simulation.Through CFD simulation, it was suggested that indoor airflow of a chemical laboratory was affected not only by the air volume of ventilation systems but also by the direction and the flow velocity of airflow. In addition, the room ventilation was found to promote diffusion of chemicals and disturb the smooth exhausts by fume hood. These results indicated the necessity of the careful design of laboratory layout for reducing unintended chemical exposure in chemical laboratories.
