United States
                    Environmental Protection
                    Agency
 Air and Energy Engineering
 Research Laboratory
 Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
                    Research and Development
 EPA/600/SR-92/119   December 1992
*& EPA      Project Summary
                    Modeling  Radon  Entry  Into
                    Florida Houses with  Concrete
                    Slabs  and Concrete-Block  Stem
                    Walls,  Florida  Radon  Research
                    Program
                   K.L. Revzan, W.J. Fisk, and R.G. Sextro
                     A finite-difference numerical model
                   was used to examine the influence of
                   soil, fill, and construction characteris-
                   tics on the convective entry of radon
                   and soil gas into slab-on-grade houses.
                   Such houses, built with a perimeter,
                   hollow-core concrete block stem wall
                   and an above-grade floor slab resting
                   on fill, are typical of a portion of the
                   Florida housing stock. When the build-
                   ing is depressurized with respect to
                   ambient pressure, radon-bearing soil
                   air flows through various combinations
                   of soil, fill, and blockwall components,
                   entering the house through perimeter
                   slab-stem  wall gaps, or interior cracks,
                   or other openings in the floor slab. At a
                   constant building depressurization, the
                   model predicts the steady-state pres-
                   sure, flow, and radon concentration
                   fields for a soil block 10 m deep and
                   extending  10m beyond the 7-m-radius
                   slab. From the concentration and pres-
                   sure fields, radon and soil gas entry
                   rates are then estimated for each entry
                   location. Under base case conditions,
                   approximately 93% of the soil gas en-
                   try is through the exterior section of
                   the stem wall, 5% through the interior
                   section of the stem wall, 2% through
                   an interior slab opening, and less than
                   1% through gaps assumed to exist be-
                   tween the stem wall and footing or the
                   stem wall  and floor slab.  In contrast,
                   57% of the radon entry rate occurs
                   through the interior section of the stem
                   wall, 22% through the interior slab
                   opening, 20% through the exterior sec-
                   tion of the stem  wall, and less than
                   0.5% through the gaps. Changes in fill
 permeability have significant effects on
 radon entry, while changes in blockwall
 permeability are largely offset by in-
 creased flow and entry through struc-
 tural gaps.
  This Project Summary was developed
 by EPA's Air and Energy Engineering
 Research Laboratory, Research  Tri-
 angle Park, NC, to announce key find-
 ings of a research project that is fully
 documented as a separate report with
 the same title  (see Project Report or-
 dering information in the back).

 Introduction
  The role of convective flow  of soil gas
 in transporting  radon  into buildings is
 widely acknowledged; however, the fac-
 tors that affect radon entry can be com-
 plex. These flows depend on the driving
 pressure, the type and location of the
 openings connecting  the building interior
 with the surrounding soil environment, and
 characteristics of the soil medium. The
 nature of these openings is strongly influ-
 enced by both the type of building  sub-
 structure and the specific construction de-
tails. The driving pressure, which is the
 pressure difference between the surface
of the soil surrounding the building and
the building interior, is caused by the stack
 effect (due to temperature differences be-
tween the inside of the building and the
outdoors),  wind  loading on the building
shell, and the operation of heating and/or
air conditioning systems.
  Several detailed numerical  models of
radon transport through soil and entry into
buildings have been developed to investi-
gate factors influencing soil gas and ra-
don  migration, including characteristics of
                                                                  Printed on Recycled Paper

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the building and the surrounding soil. In
the present study,  a two-dimensional,
steady-state finite-difference  numerical
model, utilizing cylindrical symmetry, has
been assembled, with boundary conditions
appropriate for one form of the slab-on-
grade construction used in Florida hous-
ing. The model has been used to explore
the influence of soil and building param-
eters on soil gas and radon entry. Implica-
tions for possible methods of limiting soil
gas and radon entry are also discussed.

Mode! Description and
Approach

Model Overview
  The model used in this  study is based
on  a  finite-difference numerical  code in
whteh the soil is assumed to be isother-
mal and the relationship between gas flow
and driving pressure is assumed to  be
linear (Darcy's law). In the present model,
the Cartesian coordinates are transformed
into a cylindrical coordinate system. This,
in effect, reduces the model to two dimen-
sions for computing purposes. Since many
of the structural elements of  interest are
at the perimeter of the house or can be
chosen to have cylindrical symmetry, there
Is little loss of generality in using cylindri-
cal coordinates. This approach permits in-
creased resolution and/or more rapid con-
vergence with only modest loss in realism
In moving from a fully three-dimensional
treatment. In this parametric analysis, the
benefit of  greater speed outweighs the
slight loss in  accuracy compared  with a
fully three-dimensional configuration.
   Boundaries  for the soil block have been
chosen to be 10 m  from the footing in
both the radial (r) and vertical (z) direc-
tions, as Indicated in Figure 1. The bottom
surface of the slab and the outer surfaces
of the footing  are  assumed to be no-flow
boundaries. The model accounts  for ra-
don transport by both convective flow and
diffusion.
   A static pressure difference is applied
between the surface of the soil exterior to
the building and the  floor slab (top) sur-
face, the mouth of the interior slab gap
and the opening between the slab edge
and the outer element of the stem wall
 (subsequently referred to as the slab edge
 opening), as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.
Generally, the slab  edge opening is as-
sumed to be sufficiently large so there is
 no pressure  drop associated with  flow
through this opening. Thus, the static pres-
sure difference is effectively between the
 Inner surfaces of the stem wall, the mouth
 of any of the gaps, and the exterior soil
 surface. Two  cases have been  modeled
                  .7m
                                               Soil Surface
                 Slab
                Opening
         10m
                            10m
Figure 1.  Vert/ca/ cross-section of the region modeled showing the dimensions of the soil block and
         the location of the slab gap for the base case. Greater detail for the stem wall is presented
         in Figure 2.
where this general picture is altered.  In
the first case, the stem wall is assumed to
be filled  with impermeable concrete, so
that the only gap is between the top of the
interior element of the stem wall and the
bottom of the floor slab. In the  second
case, the size of the slab edge opening is
reduced so that pressure drop does occur
across it, reducing the pressure difference
between the exterior soil surface and the
stem wall interior. In all cases, soil air and
radon entering the stem wall interior also
pass through the  slab edge opening into
the house. Soil gas  and  radon can  also
enter the house through the interior  floor
slab gap.
  The model computes the pressure field
throughout the soil and fill region by solv-
ing the Laplace equation. Soil gas trans-
port is then calculated  from Darcy's law,
which assumes a linear relation between
applied  pressure  and fluid velocity.  The
mass balance equation describing radon
migration, including radon generation, ra-
dioactive decay, and both convective and
diffusive radon transport,  is solved to de-
termine the radon concentration field. The
model then yields soil gas and radon en-
try rates at each entry point.

Building Substructure and Soil
Geometry
   Many  houses built in Florida are  con-
structed with a slab-on-grade substruc-
ture, of which there  are several variants.
For this work, the model has been set up
to simulate an above-grade concrete slab
floor which rests  on  a perimeter hollow-
core concrete block stem  wall. The slab
edge rests on a chair block,  which is the
top course of blocks in the stem wall.
There is an opening between the edge of
the floor slab and the outer section of the
stem wall, as noted  earlier.  The floor is
also supported by fill material placed within
the boundaries of the stem  wall and el-
evated above the natural grade. A vertical
section of the substructure  is shown  in
Figure 1. As indicated in Figure 2, where
the floor  and stem  wall  are  shown  in
greater detail, gaps are assumed to exist
between both the inner and outer ele-
ments  of  the stem wall and the footing,
and between the inner portion of the stem
wall and the bottom of the  floor slab. The
gap dimensions are  chosen as an input
parameter. The  effect of eliminating the
gaps at the bottom of the stem wall  on
soil gas and radon entry  has also been'
examined.
  The inner  and outer elements of the
concrete blocks that comprise the stem
wall are assumed to be permeable to  air
flow; this permeability is another input pa-
rameter for the model. These  wall ele-
ments are modeled as vertically homoge-
neous; i.e., no provision is made for differ-
ences  due to mortar joints  between the
blocks. To simplify the model, the block
webs—sections of the block that connect

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                                                                  Concrete
                                                                  Block Wall
                         House'V
                         Side  V
                         Gaps V
 Figure 2.  Detail of the stem wall, showing the fixed dimensions for the wall height, dimensions of the
          footing, and fill depth and location. The size of the gaps at the top and bottom of the stem
          wall is exaggerated in this diagram. In the base case, their widths are 3 mm. The floor slab
          thickness is 10 cm.
the inner and outer wall elements—have
not been included. Generally, the interior
of the block is open and flow through the
webs themselves should not significantly
affect the results. Where the stem wall is
filled with concrete, these webs are also
not present in the model, and thus no flow
path is provided. The concrete footing and
floor slab are assumed to be impermeable
to gas flow.  An interior gap in the slab
floor is included in the model, with  radial
location  and  gap width  as model inputs.
The length of this gap  is defined by the
radial location.
  As shown in Figure 2, the fill  below the
slab and on top of the footing  is defined
as  a separate  region  to  enable  us to
specify fill properties that may differ from
those of  the natural soil. The two param-
eters of greatest interest here are air per-
meability and the radium content  of the
soil or fill.
 Base Configuration
  A set of parameters have been chosen
 to constitute a base case for the model-
 ing. These have been selected based on
 reviews of the available data on Florida
 housing and on soil and fill properties. To
 evaluate the effects of varying several of
 the soil and/or building  substructure fea-
 tures on soil gas and radon entry, a range
 was established for the variation of each
 parameter.  The base case  values and
 ranges are summarized in Table 1.
  In the  base  case, the model  uses an
 effective  radon diffusion coefficient of 2 x
 10  -6 m2 s-1 for the  soil and fill and an
 'infinite depth' radon concentration, C , of
 37 kBq nr3 which is  equivalent to soil or
fill with a radium concentration of 46.5 Bq
 kg-1 and an emanation coefficient and po-
 rosity of  0.2 and 0.4, respectively. The
 pressure difference between the top of
the slab and the top of the soil outside the
building was chosen to be -2.4 Pa.
   The parametric investigation was car-
 ried out using two approaches. First, each
 parameter was van'ed individually, with the
 remaining parameters  held fixed  at their
 respective base case values. Second, in
 some cases more than one  parameter
 was varied  at the same time  to explore
 more fully the effects of the parameters of
 interest. In these cases,
   1) the soil permeability was varied for
     high (10 -9 m2) and low (10 -15 m2) fill
     permeabilities;
   2) the soil and fill permeabilities  were
     varied independently when the slab
     gap was the only soil gas entry path;
   3) the soil, fill, and  stem wall perme-
     abilities were varied independently
     when the core of the concrete blocks
     making  up the stem wall was  filled
     with impermeable concrete;
   4) the stem wall permeability was var-
     ied when gaps between both the bot-
     tom of the stem wall and the concrete
     wall footing were completely closed;
     and
   5) the  size of the slab edge opening
     was varied.

 Results and Discussion
   In the base case, the predicted soil gas
 and radon entry  rates due to convective
 flow are 5.1  x 10 ^ m3 s-1 and 1.6  Bq s~\
 respectively. The  distribution of soil gas
 and radon flows through the various entry
 points shown in Figure 2 is summarized in
 Table 2.  The model simulations predict
 that 93% of the total soil gas enters through
 the  exterior side of the stem wall, while
 about 6% proceeds through the interior
 surface of the stem wall. Most of the gas
 flow is through the sides of the stem wall,
 rather than through the 3 mm wide gaps
 at the top and bottom  of the  stem wall.
 Only 1.6% of the total soil gas is predicted
 to enter at the interior slab gap, which in
 the  base  case  is located at 3  m radius.
 This corresponds to a crack length of  18.8
 m. These relative entry rates are consis-
 tent with the path length  of the flow lines—
 and therefore the resistance to flow—con-
 necting the exterior soil surface and the
 specific entry point.
  The distribution of the radon entry rates
 associated with this air flow is different,
 with almost 59% predicted to occur through
 the  interior side of the stem wall, 21%
through the exterior side of the stem wall,
 and  20% through the interior slab  crack.
The predicted  radon concentrations at
each entry point, shown in Table 2, indi-
cate that,  although the largest fraction of
gas flow occurs through the exterior side
of the stem wall, the radon concentration

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Tabla 1. Base Case Value and Range for Model Parameters

        Parameter                                 Base Case Value
                                            Range
Soft air permeability (nf):
    a,  total soil block
    b.  soil layer 0-1 m deep'
    c.  soil layer 0.5-1.5 m deep*

Fill a!r permeability (m2):
    a.  aHfill
    b.  exterior to stem wall

Stem wall air permeability (m*):
    a.  both vertical wall elements
    b.  inner wall element
    c.  outer wall element

Slab opening:
    a.  width
    b.  radial distance (m)

Radium content (relative to base case):
    a.  fill
    b.  soil below 0.6 m depth*
    c.  soil below 4.6m depth *

Water table (m):
    a.  depth betow surface
                       10-"
                       10-"
                       10-"
                       4x10-"
                       4x10-"
                        10-'°
                        10-'°
                       3mm
                       3
                        10
                       10 -a- 10-s
                       10-'*-10-°
                       W'z-10-a
                       10 "'s- 10-°
                       10'1S-10-S
                       10-1S. to-9
                     1 mm -10 cm
                         0-7
                                           0.1-10
                                           0.1-10
                                           0.1-10
                                           0.5 -10
 *  Depth with respect to grade level
 Tabto 2.  Base Case Soil Gas and Radon Entry at Various Entry Points
        Entry Location
  Fraction of
Soil Gas Entry*
   (percent)
   Radon
Concentration
(percent of Cm)
   Fraction of
Radon Entryf
   (percent)
 Interior side of the stem wall:
     a.   top gap                   0.06
     b.   bottom gap                 0.06
     c.   side of wall                 5.0
     d.   bottom of wall              0.23
     e.   top of wall                  0.24

 Exterior side of the stem wall:
     a.   bottom gap                 0.98
     b.   side of wall                88.
     c.   bottom of wall              4.

 Slab opening                        1-6
                        88
                        87
                        88
                        87
                        88
                         5
                         3
                         5

                        98
                           0.65
                           0.65
                          53.
                           2.5
                           2.6
                           0.67
                          18.
                           2.7

                          20.
   Total base case soil gas entry = 5.1 x
   Total base case radon entry ~ 1.6 Bq s-'
 in the adjacent soil is low due to diffusion
 to the atmosphere and to dilution by the
 atmospheric air entering the soil through
 a short  flow path. In contrast, the radon
 concentrations are much  higher in the fill
 materials  located  adjacent to the interior
 side of the stem wall and below the inte-
 rior of the slab.
   In comparison with the convective  ra-
 don entry rate, the diffusive entry rate,
 based on a radon diffusion coefficient for
             concrete of 5 x 10 •" m2 s'1 and a concrete
             porosity of 0.2, is 0.5 Bq s'1. Thus, for a
             single-story house with  a volume of 500
             m3 and  an average air  exchange rate of
             0.5 rr1, the total indoor  radon concentra-
             tion would be 31 Bq nr3 for this base case
             soil and substructure.
               Results of selected model runs in which
             the effects of different parameters  are
             evaluated are shown in Table  3 and in
             Figure 3.  The effects of changes in per-
meability of the soil were extensively in-
vestigated, both alone and in conjunction
with variations in other parameters or as-
sumptions. Changes in  soil permeability
alone had  a somewhat modest effect on
radon entry in the base case, since flows
at the  higher soil  permeabilities are then
limited by the fill permeability. The role of
the fill in determining flows is demonstrated
by  comparing the  predicted radon entry
rates when the fill permeability is  chosen
to be either high (10 "9 m2) or low (10 -15
m2). For  high fill permeability, radon entry
is limited by the permeability of the under-
lying soil.  When  both are high,  the in-
creased  radon  entry  rate  is  significant,
almost 30 times the base  case.  On the
other hand, if the fill has a low permeabil-
ity, total radon  entry is  quite low and is
essentially unaffected by changes in soil
permeability.
  Another effect that arises when soil per-
meability is varied  is the  change in  the
importance of the various radon entry lo-
cations. As soil permeabilities are reduced
below  that of the  base case, radon  entry
through  the exterior of the  stem  wall
changes only slightly as soil permeabilities
range  from 10  -12 to 10 -9  m2. However,
entry through the  interior side of the stem
wall is reduced as soil permeability  is re-
duced below the base case, and increases
as soil permeability increases. Radon en-
try at the interior  slab gap  behaves simi-
larly,  although  it does  not increase as
much  with increasing soil  permeability.
Thus at the low end of the range of soil
permeabilities modeled here, radon entry
through  the exterior side of the stem wall
is the largest  single component; as  soil
permeability increases, the  relative impor-
tance  of this entry pathway decreases. At
the high end of the soil permeability range,
approximately  88% of the  radon enters
through  the interior side of the stem  wall,
almost 10% through the interior slab gap,
and about 2% through the exterior side of
the stem wall.
   If the soil is layered, the  effects on
radon entry of variations in the permeabil-
ity of the layer  depend on  the location of
the layer. Two layered soil cases were
modeled in which the permeability of the
soil layer was varied while those of the fill
and the remaining soil were held fixed at
the base  case values.  In  the first  case,
the soil layer  began at grade level  (in
direct contact with the fill  material)  and
 extended  1  m deep. In the second case,
the soil  layer began at 0.5 m below grade
 (which is  the depth of the bottom of the
footing) and extended to  1.5 m below
 grade. As shown by the results in  Table 3,
 when  the. layer is  in contact  with the fill

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                  Table 3.  Effects of Selected Parameters on Radon Entry

                          Parameter
                                                                    Radon Entry (Bq s •')
Soil air permeability (m *):
a. all other parameters = base case
b. till permeability = 10 -9 m *
c. fill permeability = 10 ~'5 m z
d. filled stem wall
e. soil layer 0 to 1 m deep'
f. soil layer 0.5 to 1.5 m deep'
g. slab opening only
Fill air permeability (rrf):
a. all other parameters = base case
b. filled stem wall
c. slab opening only
Radium content (relative to base case):
a. fill
b. soil below 0.6 m"
c. soil below 4.6 m*
Width of slab edge opening (cm):
a. all other parameters = base case
10-'*
0.4
0.63
5.X 10"
0.16
0.64
0.74
0.14
10 -(S
5.3x10-*
6.x 10"
3. x 10 -5
0.1
1.3
0.75
1.5
0.1
0.88
10-"
1.6
2.1
5.X 10"
1.2
1.6
1.6
0.55
10-"
5.x 10*
4.8x10*
3.x 10*
1
1.6
1.6
1.6
0.2
1.5
10-™
6.6
13
5.x 10"
3.8
4.2
2.5
1.1
10-"
1.1
0.8
0.2
5
2.6
5.1
1.7
1
1.6
10-*
13
47
5.x 10"
5.1
7.9
3.3
1.2
10-*
2.1
1.6
1.6
10
4
9.3
2.0
5
1.6
" Depth with respect to grade level
 (assuming the fill has the base case per-
 meability), the layer has a larger effect on
 radon entry than  when the soil  layer is
 deeper.
   Interestingly, filling the stem wall inte-
 rior with impermeable concrete has only a
 modest effect on total radon entry. In this
 case, a gap is assumed to exist between
 the top  of  the concrete-filled stem wall
 and the bottom of the floor slab. As shown
 in Table 3 and Figure 3, total radon entry
 still increases with increasing soil perme-
 ability, though for a given permeability the
 radon entry rate is lower than in the base
 case. One can also see that the effects
 on radon entry of changing the fill perme-
 ability when the stem wall is filled with
 concrete are also  modest. These results
 can, in general, be explained by the fact
 that the  pressure field distribution in the
 adjacent fill  is altered when the stem wall
 interior is impermeable. The larger pres-
 sure gradient at the remaining entry point,
 which compensates somewhat for the re-
 duced number of entry points, results in a
 higher soil gas and radon entry rate.
   Similarly,  changing the permeability  of
the stem wall itself has very little effect on
total radon  entry,  as can be seen from
 Figure 3. Again, this is due to compensat-
ing effects. As long as the wall permeabil-
ity is greater than that of the adjacent fill,
flow through the wall is the most impor-
 tant. As the wall permeability decreases
 below that of the fill,  the  gaps between
 the wall and the footing and between the
 wall and the floor slab become increas-
 ingly important flow pathways as the pres-
 sure field is altered due to the changing
 wall permeability.
   The effect of the size of the slab edge
 opening on the  radon  entry rate was ex-
 amined parametrically. In the initial prob-
 lem definition, this opening was assumed
 to be sufficiently large so that no pressure
 drop occurred at this point—effectively ap-
 plying the full -2.4 Pa  static pressure dif-
 ference between the exterior soil surface
 and the inner surfaces  of the stem wall. In
 actual construction practice this opening
 may  in  fact be  much smaller, in effect
 reducing the driving force for convective
 flow into the stem wall  interior. Holding all
 the soil and wall parameters at their base
 case values, the effect of closing this open-
 ing to 1  mm reduced the total radon entry
 by about 40%. Radon entry via this open-
 ing drops by about  a  factor of 4  in this
 case, but the predicted entry via the inte-
 rior slab gap increases by almost a factor
 of 2, compensating somewhat for the re-
 duction  at the stem  wall. This increased
entry rate at the interior  slab gap  arises
because the pressure  gradient  in the fill
 region near the stem wall  is reduced, thus
 more  of the air flow through the soil is
 directed toward this interior opening.
   In addition to the flow of soil gas into
 the stem wall, via the wall material itself or
 through the gaps indicated in Figure 2, air
 flows through that portion of the exterior
 wall that is above grade. In fact, in the
 base case, this flow is  6.3 x 10 -3 m3 sr\
 which  is about 12 times the total predicted
 soil gas flow from the soil into the house
 (neither this entering outdoor air nor infil-
 tration  has been  included as  a radon
 source). In order to investigate the effects
 of changing the  flow balance between the
 inner and  outer stem  wall elements the
 permeability of the above-grade portion of
 the  exterior stem wall  element was in-
 creased to 10 -9 m2 and fixed the perme-
 ability of the remainder of the wall at 10 -12
 m2 (as might be  achieved with a wall coat-
 ing or sealant). With the slab edge open-
 ing reduced to 1  mm, the radon entry rate
 through the stem wall is reduced dramati-
 cally to 0.01 Bq  s-1 from 0.9 Bq s-1 in the
 base case. Total radon entry predicted for
 the entire substructure is  not reduced as
 much,  to about 37% of  the base  case
 rate, because radon entry through the in-
terior slab gap increases  in response to
the changes in the pressure field distribu-
tion, as described earlier.
  The  effect of water table depth on the
predicted radon  entry rate was found to

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                  I	1  I I I  I 11"[	1	I  I I I lll|	1	1  I I Mil
                        23	 Variable Soil

                    	g	Variable Soil (Filled Stem Wall)

                    	3	Variable Backfill

                    _ _e	Variable Backfill (Filled Stem Wall)

                               Variable Stem Wall

                                                                                                                  10"
                                                          Permeability (m2)
         Range of radon entry rates produced by variations in the soil, fill, and stem wall permeabilities for open and concrete-filled stem walls. Also shown
         are entry rates when the stem wall/footing gap is eliminated. In each case, all other parameters have the base case value.
be small. For a water table (modeled as a
change in the  position of the  no-flow
boundary  at the bottom of the soil block)
depth  between  2.5 and  10.5 m below
grade, the radon entry rate was essen-
tially unchanged. At depths less than 2.5
m, the entry rate reduction was small; at
0.5 m, the radon entry rate was predicted
to be 0.88 Bq s-1.
  Finally,  the effect on predicted radon
entry of changes in the radium content of
the soil and fill was examined. First,  it
should be noted that,  if the radium con-
tent (and  thereby the soil gas radon con-
centration) was increased uniformly in both
the soil and fill, the radon entry rate would
increase proportionately (except for minor
reductions due  to the  slight increase in
diffusive losses from the soil surface). If
the fill radium content is changed from the
base case, the radon entry rate does not
change proportionately, as  can be seen
from Table 3. Larger changes in radon
entry can occur if the radium content  of
the soil below 1.5 m were to increase, as
might be the case  where a high radium
soil layer was close to  the surface. The
effects of similar changes in radium con-
tent of soil below  5.5 m are diminished,
reflecting the fact that any additional ra-
don from the enhanced  radium content is
transported through the soil by means of
diffusion into the soil and fill region where
convective transport into the structure be-
comes important.

Conclusions
   Application of finite-difference  models,
incorporating key features of the  soil, fill,
and substructure, has provided additional
insight into transport of soil gas and radon
through the soil and into a building. The
model  results  have  also shown that
changes in the  characteristics of various
entry locations or pathways  can impact
radon migration and entry  at other loca-
tions, leading to compensating effects. As
one  example  of this, a reduction in the
permeability of the  stem wall  elements
reduces flow through the wall materials,
but soil gas  and radon  entry increases
through the gaps at the top and bottom of
the stem wall in response to the changes
in the pressure field in the adjacent fill.
Thus the total radon entry rate is not sig-
nificantly affected. Similarly, a reduction in
the size of the opening at the slab edge to
1 mm or  less is necessary to effect any
significant reduction in the total radon en-
try rate. If the interior opening in the floor
slab is eliminated (but the stem wall entry
is unchanged), the total radon entry rate
is reduced by only 10% over the base
case rate. If, on the other hand, all entry
points at the stem wall are eliminated (as
might be accomplished by use of a solid,

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one-piece wall and  floor slab) the total
radon entry rate is reduced by 66% (as-
suming that the floor-slab gap is present).
  Changes in the air permeability of the
soil and fill can have the most significant
effect on radon entry. Increased soil per-
meability (above the 10 -11 m2 value as-
sumed in the base case) will increase
total radon entry; if  accompanied by an
increase  in fill permeability, the increase
in radon  entry rate is more dramatic. On
the other hand, if the  fill permeability alone
is reduced below the base case value (4 x
10 -11 m2), radon entry is reduced substan-
tially. At very low fill permeabilities, con-
vective flow of radon from the soil is es-
sentially negligible, and is largely invariant
with regard to changes in other param-
eters. Even at a more modest fill perme-
ability  of  10 -12 m2,  total  radon entry  is
reduced by 80% from the base case rate.
Note that these results assume that the fill
material  maintains  its integrity; i.e.,  no
cracks or gaps develop in  the  fill or  in
those regions of the fill penetrated by util-
ity pipes or conduit.
  Changes in radium content of the fill
have some effect on total  radon entry,
though the more significant effects occur
for fill radium contents more than 3 times
the base case. Changes in the soil radium
concentration can have a more important
effect, depending on the depth of the ra-
dium-bearing layer. Where the radium con-
tent of the soil below 1.5 m is a factor of 5
times that of the base case, radon entry
increases by more than 3 times the base
case  value, while a 10-fold increase in
radium provides a radon entry rate that is
6 times greater than in the base case. For
a radium-rich soil layer below 5.5 m, the
changes are less pronounced, with only a
25% increase in radon entry arising from
a 10-fold increase in the radium content.
                                                                                       •U.S. Government Printing Office: 1992 — 750-071/60157

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 K.L Revzan, W.J. Fisk and R.G. Sextro are with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory,
   Berkeley, CA 94720
 David C. Sanchez is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
 The complete report, entitled "Modeling Radon Entry Into Florida Houses with
   Concrete Slabs and Concrete-Block Stem  Walls, Florida Radon Research
   Program," (Order No. PB92-201128; Cost: $26.00; subject to change) will be
   available only from:
         National Technical Information Service
         5285 Port Royal Road
         Springfield, VA 22161
         Telephone: 703-487-4650
 The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
         Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory
         U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
         Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Center for Environmental Research Information
Cincinnati, OH 45268

Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$300
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         EPA
   PERMIT No. G-35
EPA/600/SR-92/119

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