Heat Transfer & Particle Flow in Buildings
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Biometeorology and Bioclimatology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 7
Special Issue Editor
Interests: bridges building physics; thermofluids; biofluid mechanics; CFD/LES/RANS of coupled heat; particle transport; indoor–outdoor exchange during extreme events (heat waves, wildfire smoke); respiratory airflow and deposition mechanics
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Buildings are now front-line environments for both thermal resilience and airborne exposure control. Heat waves, wildfire smoke intrusions, infectious aerosols, and indoor-generated particles (from cooking to printers) interact with complex heat and mass transfer processes governed by building envelopes, ventilation strategies, and occupant behavior. These coupled phenomena—radiation, convection, conduction, phase change, and particle transport with deposition/resuspension—determine not only energy use and thermal comfort but also exposure to PM, bioaerosols, and emerging particulates such as microplastics.
This Special Issue targets the physics and control of heat and particle dynamics across scales, from pore-level fabrics and room-scale flows to multi-zone buildings and urban canyons. We welcome contributions that advance understanding of (i) buoyancy- and mechanically driven airflow; (ii) HVAC/filtration performance and trade-offs between ventilation, energy, and exposure; (iii) particle microphysics (nucleation, coagulation, hygroscopic growth, evaporation) coupled with deposition on surfaces and resuspension; and (iv) radiative heat transfer and solar gains under dynamic outdoor conditions (e.g., smoke, dust). Studies linking indoor–outdoor exchange during extreme events, and quantifying health-relevant metrics (dose, infection risk, exposure inequality), are especially encouraged.
Methodological innovations are central to this theme: CFD/LES/RANS with validated turbulence–particle models; reduced-order and digital-twin approaches driven by building management system (BMS) data; occupant-aware controls; and data assimilation/machine learning for forecasting, optimization, and fault detection. Equally valuable are experimental and field campaigns—chambers, living labs, and real buildings—providing reproducible datasets, model validation, and uncertainty quantification. Work that turns insight into action—design guidelines, retrofit strategies, dynamic ventilation control, demand response with IAQ guarantees, and resilience assessments—is strongly invited.
By assembling cross-disciplinary research from building physics, aerosol science, HVAC engineering, and exposure/health assessment, this Special Issue seeks to provide a rigorous, decision-ready evidence base for designing and operating buildings that are energy-efficient, thermally comfortable, and clean to breathe under both everyday and extreme conditions.
Dr. Suvash C. Saha
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- indoor air quality (IAQ)
- HVAC and filtration
- CFD/LES of indoor flows
- aerosol transport and deposition
- thermal comfort and heat waves
- indoor–outdoor exchange and wildfire smoke
- digital twins and controls
- energy–exposure trade-offs
- multi-zone modeling
- uncertainty quantification
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