Development of experimental study on coupled heat and moisture transfer in porous building envelope

A new facility was presented which can expediently and cheaply measure the transient moisture content profile in multi-layer porous building envelope.Then,a common multi-layer porous building envelope was provided,which was constructed by cement mortar-red brick-cement plaster.With this kind of building envelope installed in the south wall,a well-controlled air-conditioning room was set up in Changsha,which is one of typical zones of hot and humid climate in China.And experiments were carried out to investigate the temperature and moisture distribution in multi-layer building envelope in summer,both in sunny day and rainy day.The results show that,the temperature and humidity at the interface between the brick and cement mortar are seriously affected by the changes of outdoor temperature and humidity,and the relative humidity at this interface keeps more than 80% for a long-term,which can easily trigger the growth of mould.The temperature and humidity at the interface between the brick and cement plaster change a little,and they are affected by the changes of indoor temperature and humidity.The temperature and humidity at the interface of the wall whose interior surface is affixed with a foam plastic wallpaper are generally higher than those of the wall without wallpaper.The heat transfer and moisture transfer in the envelope are coupled strongly.

Coupled Effects of Heat and Moisture of Early-Age Concrete

In order to analyze the coupled influence of temperature and humidity on early-age concrete(including cement and copper tailings),a mathematical model is introduced on the basis of the Krstulovic-Dabic hydration reaction kinetic equations.In such a framework,the influence of hydration-released heat and water consumption are also taken into account.The results provided by such a model are verified by means of experiments and related sensor measurements.The research results show that this model can adequately predict the internal temperature and the humidity temporal evolution laws.

Applications and verification of a computational energy dynamics model for mine climate simulations

A complete thermodynamic model is described for temperature and heat flow distribution simulation for ventilation networks in underground mines.The method is called the Computational Energy Dynamics(CED)model of the heat,mass,and energy transport.The Thermal and Humidity(TH)transport elements of the full model are described for advection,convection,and accumulation,encompassing heat capacity,radiation,latent heat for evaporation,and condensation in the airways,as well as variable heat conduction and accumulation in the rock strata.The thermal flywheel effect for time-dependent temperature field applications is included in the model solution.A CED model validation exercise is described,directly evaluating the iterated,minimized energy balance errors for the mechanical and thermal energy components for each network branch after a converged solution is determined.A simulation example relevant to mine safety and health is shown with the CED-TH model,demonstrating its capabilities in efficiency and accuracy in comparison with measurement results.

Optimum insulation thickness of external walls by integrating indoor moisture buffering effect: a case study in the hot-summer-cold-winter zone of China

In the high-humidity, hot-summer-cold-winter(HSCW) zone of China, the moisture buffering effect in the envelope is found to be significant in optimum insulation thickness. However, few studies have considered the effects of indoor moisture buffering on the optimum insulation thickness and energy consumption. In this study, we considered the energy load of an exterior wall under moisture transfer from the outdoor to the indoor environment. An optimum insulation thickness was obtained by integrating the P1-P2model. A residential building was selected for the case study to verify the proposed method. Finally, a comparison was made with two other widely used methods, namely the transient heat transfer model(TH) and the coupled heat and moisture transfer model(CHM). The results indicated that the indoor moisture buffering effect on the optimum insulation thickness is 2.54 times greater than the moisture buffering effect in the envelope, and the two moisture buffering effects make opposing contributions to the optimum insulation thickness. Therefore, when TH or CHM was used without considering the indoor moisture buffering effect, the optimum insulation thickness of the southern wall under one air change per hour(1 ACH) and 100% normal heat source may be overestimated by 2.13% to 3. 59%, and the annual energy load on a single wall may be underestimated by 10.10% to 11.44%. The decrease of airtightness and the increase of indoor heat sources may result in a slight reduction of optimum insulation thickness. This study will enable professionals to consider the effects of moisture buffering on the design of insulation thickness.