NIST Clearing House for Infiltration Modeling Purposes (CHIMP)

Infiltration is the unintended and uncontrolled air leaking into a building through intentional and unintentional openings. While infiltration has been used to fulfill outdoor air requirements in buildings, it is not generally accepted as a “best practice” anymore. But how much infiltration can you expect in a building? Empirical models for infiltration are available but they were developed for low-rise residential buildings. This presentation will present novel ways of modeling infiltration in commercial buildings and the implications on energy use. CHIMP is the Clearing House for Infiltration Modeling Purposes, which provides a central resource where users can obtain information, data, and tools to facilitate the modeling of infiltration in a variety of analysis tools (e.g., CONTAM, EnergyPlus, etc). Since 2012, NIST has been developing models, datasets, and tools for estimating the effects of infiltration on heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) related energy use. CHIMP is the one-stop shop for your infiltration modeling needs and is updated when new work is released.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand what infiltration is
2. Understand the benefits of modeling infiltration properly
3. Understand where to find infiltration modeling tools
4. Understand how to incorporate novel infiltration modeling methods into your workflow

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Lisa Ng, PhD, Acting Division Chief, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Dr. Lisa Ng is the Group Leader of the Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group at NIST and has over 13 years of experience in research in airflow and indoor air quality performance in buildings. Her work is focused on airflow and indoor air quality performance in buildings, with a focus on low energy buildings as well as energy efficiency design and operation strategies in general. She is active in the development of strategies for incorporating more accurate infiltration estimates in building energy models and the application of multizone airflow and indoor air quality (IAQ) models to a range of building performance issues. Lisa is an active member of ASHRAE and IBPSA, and has collaborated with the ABAA Research Committee on projects related to infiltration modeling and quantifying the impacts of improved airtightness on commercial and residential buildings.