Mathematical modeling of environmental conditions inside historical buildings. The case of the archaeological museum of Athens

Indoor pollutants can damage cultural property stored in museums, art galle ries, libraries and archives. A relatively small number of measurements ava ilable for the interiors are restricted to just a few gases. The paper draw s attention to the lack of information about the airborne pollutants' dispe rsion of museum interiors and presents a mathematical model, implemented in a general computer code, that can provide detailed information on velocity and temperature as well as pollutants' concentrations prevailing in three- dimensional buildings of any geometrical complexity, for given external met eorological conditions. The model involves the partial differential equatio ns governing flow Brid heat transfer, in large enclosures, containing heat and pollutants sources. Turbulent flow is simulated and buoyancy effects ar e taken into-account. The model allows for such practical aspects of the pr oblems under consideration as blockages, internal heat and contaminants loa ds, external weather conditions, the presence of people, etc. The model is used to assess the environmental conditions inside the main Hall of the Nat ional Archaeological Museum of Athens (Myceane Hall) with external conditio ns corresponding to Ministry of Environment summer and winter days. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.