Effect of varying the hydrothermal characteristics of concrete on the hygrothermal behaviour of a wall

Abstract

Hygrothermal computer simulations consider transient and simultaneous exchanges of heat and moisture between the building elements and the environment. They are an important tool to support the design and performance assessment of buildings. These simulations require the description of the building element, the environmental conditions to which it is exposed, and the hygrothermal characteristics of the materials that compose it as input data. This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the results of the hygrothermal simulation of a concrete wall varying the hygrothermal characteristics of the material. The internal environmental conditions were obtained using EnergyPlus^® and the hygrothermal simulation was done in WUFI^® Pro, with post-processing in WUFI^® Bio to evaluate the risk of mold occurrence. The hygrothermal behavior of the walls varied significantly with the variation in hygrothermal characteristics of the materials, especially for one type of concrete that had a very different capillary transport function. The results indicate the importance of analyzing hygrothermal characteristics and functions for hygrothermal simulations and the need to experimentally determine such characteristics for Brazilian building materials.