ABSTRACT
Indoor decoration causes a large amount of formaldehyde to be concurrently released from different surfaces of wood-based panels. However, this phenomenon has rarely been described with two- or three-dimensional mass transfer models. In this paper, multidimensional mass transfer models of formaldehyde emissions originating from different surfaces of building materials are first established. Moreover, mass balance integral equation is introduced. Experiments of formaldehyde emissions in the environmental chambers are numerically simulated by combining the parameter estimation method, composite Simpson formula and finite difference method, whose convergence and stability are verified. The results indicated that the proposed models suitably agreed with the experimental and literature data. Furthermore, the multidimensional mass transfer model confirmed that formaldehyde released from sides should not be ignored. Compared with the one-dimensional model, the three-dimensional model can more accurately simulate the release data of formaldehyde from wood-based panels. Subsequently, the variation trend between the chemical reaction formation rate and physical diffusion rate of formaldehyde is revealed.