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Resuspension

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Handbook of Indoor Air Quality

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Abstract

Resuspension is an important source of indoor airborne particulate matter in occupied environments. Resuspension of settled particles from flooring, furnishings, clothing, and other surfaces can occur when the settled particles are disturbed via human activity, air currents, or other external forces. Resuspension models have been developed at multiple scales, from describing individual particle adhesion and detachment to estimating bulk effects from settled dust disturbance. Researchers have investigated the effects of many resuspension factors, including particle size, particle composition and morphology, particle loading on surfaces, surface roughness, relative humidity, flooring type, walking style, and shoe type. Future work should address a better characterization of resuspension from clothing, improved incorporation of relative humidity and electrostatic effects into resuspension models, composition of size-resolved dust loading in various microenvironments, resuspension-related exposure in microenvironments of concern, such as hospitals and schools, and resuspension of specific dust components of concern such as nanoparticles, viruses, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA

    Andrea R. Ferro

  2. Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA

    Andrea R. Ferro

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  1. Andrea R. Ferro
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Correspondence to Andrea R. Ferro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Yinping Zhang

  2. Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA

    Philip K. Hopke

  3. Scientific and Technical Center for Building (CSTB), Marne-La-Vallée, France

    Corinne Mandin

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Ferro, A.R. (2022). Resuspension. In: Zhang, Y., Hopke, P.K., Mandin, C. (eds) Handbook of Indoor Air Quality. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7680-2_11

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