Volatile Organic Compound Odor Signature Modeling

ABSTRACT: The team of Toyon Research Corporation and North Carolina State University propose to develop a simulation environment, capable of predicting the spatio-temporal distribution of Volatile Organic Chemical (VOC) levels emitted by a person for several scenarios of interest. The approach applies"first principles", Computation Fluids Dynamics (CFD) models to predict the transport of the VOC chemicals within environments on time and lengths scales associated with individual motion. The Phase I effort will develop physics-based models to calculate VOC emission rates associated with activities such as breathing, perspiration or desquamation (skin cell loss). The integration of CFD and source terms models will be validated on Phase I testing involving tracer simulants, and developing a Concept of Operation for the overall simulation in preparation for Phase II activities, which principally involve the development of back-tracking algorithms for a"track to source"capability. This approach is well-suited to support the AFRL Research Lab activities through realizing the Phase III concept identified in the solicitation: a portable VOC signature detector with an embedded back-tracking algorithm for real-time application. BENEFIT: The simulation environment will provide AFRL with a robust means of establishing sensor requirements for an emerging, VOC-based detector, and the basis for conducting research and analyzing back-tracking algorithms.