Infant Crawling-Induced Particle Resuspension: Size-Resolved Resuspension Rates Derived from a Three-Zone Model

摘要

As an infant crawls across the floor, they resuspend settled particles, which can result in inhalation exposure to organic contaminants and biological material found in floor dust. The close proximity of a crawling infant's breathing zone (BZ) to the floor may elevate their exposures. This study employs a simplified mechanical crawling infant to evaluate the resuspension of settled dust from carpeted flooring in full-scale chamber measurements. Crawling-induced resuspension was found to create a highly concentrated and localized cloud of particles around the infant, with average PM_(10) mass concentrations in the range of 10 to > 100 μg/m~3 across the twelve carpets tested, and short-term (10 second average) concentrations greater than 500 μg/m~3 on several carpets. Size-resolved particle emission rates and resuspension rates will be reported.