Determination of moisture distributions in porous building materials by neutron transmission analysis

The movement of moisture inside building structures can affect them in important ways, causing physical and chemical damage. Therefore the study of moisture transport in porous building materials is highly relevant to a better understanding of the durability of building structures made of porous materials. The moisture transport can be described phenomenologically by a diffusion equation using a moisture content dependent moisture transfer coefficient. To determine the transfer coefficient in a given material, the experimental quantitative measurement of the time and space dependent moisture distribution in the material is necessary. Neutron radiography provides a highly sensitive non-destructive method for the detection of the presence of water and provides high spatial resolution. A new neutron transmission analysis technique has been developed and optimized for the study of moisture in building materials to extract the quantitative information from the experimental data. Typically, moisture contents down to a few mg/cm³ can be detected at a spatial resolution of 1 mm. As an application example, the determination of the time and space dependent moisture distribution in a brick sample and the subsequent determination of the moisture transfer coefficient are presented.     

A spectral method for solving heat and moisture transfer through consolidated porous media

This work presents an efficient numerical method based on spectral expansions for simulation of heat and moisture diffusive transfers through multilayered porous materials. Traditionally, by using the finite-difference approach, the problem is discretized in time and space domains (method of lines) to obtain a large system of coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which is computationally expensive. To avoid such a cost, this paper proposes a reduced-order method that is faster and accurate, using a much smaller system of ODEs. To demonstrate the benefits of this approach, three case studies are presented. The first one considers nonlinear heat and moisture transfer through one material layer. The second case, ie, highly nonlinear, imposes a high moisture content gradient, simulating a rain-like condition, over a two-layered domain, whereas the last one compares the numerical prediction against experimental data for validation purposes. Results show how the nonlinearities and the interface between materials are easily and naturally treated with the spectral reduced-order method. Concerning the reliability part, predictions show a good agreement with experimental results, which confirm robustness, calculation efficiency, and high accuracy of the proposed approach for predicting the coupled heat and moisture transfer through porous materials.     

Measurement of grain moisture content using microwave attenuationat 10.5 GHz and moisture density

The dielectric properties of Korean short-grain rough rice, brown rice and barley with moisture content ranges of 11% to 27%, 11% to 18%, and 11 to 21%, wet basis, respectively, were characterized to develop a prototype grain moisture meter using microwave attenuation at 10.5 GHz and moisture density. A third-order polynomial regression model was proposed to describe the relationship between dielectric properties and moisture density. The prototype grain moisture meter consisted of a dielectric resonator type oscillator of 10.5 GHz, horn antenna, rectangular sample holder, load cell, temperature sensor, detector, and digital voltmeter. The calibration equation for measurement of grain moisture content was developed and estimated with Korean short-grain rough rice (12% to 26%). The coefficient of determination, standard error of prediction (SEP), and bias were 0.986, 0.52% moisture content and 0.07% moisture content, respectively     

Coupled thermal and moisture expansion of porous materials

A method for measuring the coupled influences of temperature and moisture on the linear thermal expansion of porous materials is proposed. The method is based on length measurements using a comparator and on application of the superposition principle to the relative elongation due to temperature and moisture changes. The application of the proposed method is illustrated on the heat-insulating building material Dekalit P. Measured results show a significant influence of the rate of moistening and drying as well as the moistening method itself on the linear expansion. The differences in the linear moisture expansion coefficient caused by these effects can achieve several hundreds percent. The thermal expansion behavior of Dekalit P is found to be regular, the linear thermal expansion coefficient being constant in the temperature range of -30 to 180°C Generally, for Dekalit P, the influence of moisture on linear expansion is more important than the influence of temperature.Paper presented at the Twelfth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 19 24, 1994, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.     

Numerical modeling of nonisothermal moisture transfer in biological colloidal porous materials

The authors derive and substantiate a system of equations of heat and moisture transfer in colloidal capillary-porous undersaturated media with account for the mutual effect of the vapor and liquid pressure, determined by the contribution of surface forces, and the temperature on the rate of interphase mass transfer and the thermocapillary flows. Examples are given of the numerical calculation of evolution of the moisture content and temperature fields and the kinetic dependences in a wide moisture content range for materials of biological origin, namely, yeast, soil. A comparison is made with experimental data.The work was carried out in 1992/93 on the basis of grant No. 1392/3-91, sponsored by the Science Committee of Poland.Academic Scientific Complex A. V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus. Technical University of Lodz', Poland. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 202–212, February, 1994.     

Equilibrium moisture content of earth bricks biocomposites stabilized with cement and gypsum

In recent years, energy efficient and ecologically friendly buildings have been important in the housing and construction sector. One of the major barriers to producing good and useful products is the lack of detailed information about natural materials, in particular their moisture related properties, as these materials are hygroscopic and sensitive to moisture. This research aimed to determine the equilibrium moisture content of earth block materials, as an extremely important characteristic variable for all physical simulations. Earth bricks with different compositions were fabricated from cohesive soil, cement, and gypsum combined with two kinds of natural fibers. Wheat and barley straw were used as reinforcing fibers and materials were treated at various temperatures (10–40 °C) and relative humidity (33–95%). The moisture content was considered in dynamic equilibrium with the environmental conditions and the effects of relative humidity and temperature were investigated. The effect of relative humidity was observed more pronounced than that of temperature. The test results are discussed with reference to the relevance of the earth bricks as an ecologically friendly building material that is directly associated with the moisture related properties of buildings. The results also showed significant improvement in the durability.     

Numerical solution of an inverse diffusion problem for the moisture transfer coefficient in a porous material

On the basis of the solution of a nonlinear diffusion equation with initial and boundary conditions, a transfer coefficient of moisture in a sample of a porous material is found by minimization of a functional, which expresses error of the calculated profile of moisture concentration in well defined time moments from their experimental values for the defined moisture transfer coefficient. In this case the transfer coefficient as opposed to previous studies is found as a sum of a power function and an exponential function of the moisture concentration. The exponent of the power function depends on time. Thus, a more accurate coincidence of the calculated profiles of the moisture concentration to their experimental profiles is gained in comparison to the investigations performed by other authors. The exponential term provides a good coincidence of the mentioned profiles for big times nearby the boundary of the sample, where the moisture evaporation to the atmosphere takes place.     

Drying of Rubber Wood Sawdust Using Tray Dryer

The present study attempts to understand drying characteristics of rubber wood sawdust in a tray dryer as it is the simplest and oldest of the dryers known commercially. An increase in temperature, flow rate of the heating medium, and initial moisture content was found to increase the drying rate. However, an increase in the particle diameter and bed height was found to reduce the drying rate. The increase in drying rate with temperature and moisture content was attributed to increase in the diffusion coefficient, while the increase due to the flow rate is attributed to reduction in the external mass transfer resistance during early stages of drying while the drying rate was high. An increase in bed height as well as particle size increases the diffusion path length for moisture, which contributes to the reduction in drying rate. The experimental data were modeled using Fick's diffusion equation, and the effective diffusivity coefficient was evaluated by minimizing the error between the experimental data and the prediction using the model equation. The effective diffusion coefficient was found to increase with increase in temperature, initial moisture content, and the flow rate of the heating medium, while it was found to decrease with increase in particle size. The diffusion coefficient was not found to vary with the bed height/solid loading. The effective diffusion coefficient was found to vary within 9.1 × 10^-9to 22 × 10^-9 m²/min. The standard deviation of error between the experimental data and prediction using the model, using the estimated effective diffusivity coefficient, was found to be less than 0.07 for the entire set of data, indicating the appropriateness of the model in predicting drying kinetics.     

Numerical analysis of moisture vapor diffusion in asphalt mixtures using digital images

The presence of moisture in asphalt mixtures is detrimental to their performance, e.g., softening the asphalt binder and weakening the aggregate-binder bond. One of the mechanisms of moisture transport, and the focus of this study, is molecular diffusion. Moisture diffusion occurs in response to a concentration gradient. The objective of this study was to estimate the diffusion coefficient of moisture vapor in asphalt mixtures by using finite element (FE) and finite difference (FD) numerical algorithms that employ digital images to discretize the composite. X-ray computed tomography was used to characterize the microstructure of laboratory-prepared specimens and provide the required three-dimensional digital images, which were segmented into three phases: air voids, a mixture of asphalt binder and the fine aggregate fraction, and coarse aggregates. Individual diffusion coefficients were assigned to each phase and the effective diffusion coefficient for the composite was computed using the numerical algorithms. The outcome was compared against experimental values. The effective diffusion coefficient for the asphalt mixtures obtained using the FD method showed closer agreement with the experimental data, while the FE results overestimated the experimental measurements in all cases.     

New calibration technique for microwave moisture sensors

A new calibration technique was developed for implementation with microwave moisture sensors. The calibration permittivity function used for this purpose allows computation of moisture content in granular materials with significant differences in shape, dimensions, and composition, independent of bulk density and with temperature compensation. A 3D representation is used to plot the calibration permittivity function as it depends on temperature and moisture content in wheat and corn. For each material, data points form a plane surface. These planes have nearly the same coefficients, which can be utilized for the development of a “universal” calibration method for moisture sensing in natural and manufactured granular materials. Foundations of the method are discussed based on results obtained for wheat and corn over a wide temperature range and at moisture contents of practical interest     

The Prediction of the Emissivity and Thermal Conductivity of Powder Beds

The present study attempts to understand drying characteristics of rubber wood sawdust in a tray dryer as it is the simplest and oldest of the dryers known commercially. An increase in temperature, flow rate of the heating medium, and initial moisture content was found to increase the drying rate. However, an increase in the particle diameter and bed height was found to reduce the drying rate. The increase in drying rate with temperature and moisture content was attributed to increase in the diffusion coefficient, while the increase due to the flow rate is attributed to reduction in the external mass transfer resistance during early stages of drying while the drying rate was high. An increase in bed height as well as particle size increases the diffusion path length for moisture, which contributes to the reduction in drying rate. The experimental data were modeled using Fick's diffusion equation, and the effective diffusivity coefficient was evaluated by minimizing the error between the experimental data and the prediction using the model equation. The effective diffusion coefficient was found to increase with increase in temperature, initial moisture content, and the flow rate of the heating medium, while it was found to decrease with increase in particle size. The diffusion coefficient was not found to vary with the bed height/solid loading. The effective diffusion coefficient was found to vary within 9.1 × 10^?9to 22 × 10^?9 m²/min. The standard deviation of error between the experimental data and prediction using the model, using the estimated effective diffusivity coefficient, was found to be less than 0.07 for the entire set of data, indicating the appropriateness of the model in predicting drying kinetics.     

Nonisothermal moisture transfer in closed disperse systems

This paper shows that the factors determining the magnitude of the reverse flow of moisture, which compensates the moisture transfer due to the temperature gradient, have a decisive influence on the final form of the moisture-content profile in horizontal, closed, disperse, nonisothermal systems.     

Predicting local surface heat transfer coefficients by different turbulent k-ε models to simulate heat and moisture transfer during air-blast chilling

A numerical investigation using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is carried out to predict the turbulent flow field, and heat and moisture transfer in a three-dimensional air-blast chiller with cooked meats of cylindrical and elliptical shapes. Three turbulent models [standard, low Reynolds number (LRN) and RNG k-ε model] have been used in these simulations. Based on local heat transfer coefficients on the surface of the meat calculated by CFD code, the unsteady heat and mass transfer were simulated which took into account of the effects of conduction within the meat, forced and natural convection, radiation and moisture evaporation on the surface of the cooked meat joint. The model allowed the simultaneous CFD prediction of both temperature distribution and weight loss of the meat throughout the chilling process. Good agreement with experimental results was obtained. The effect of using different models on the accuracy of the simulation of local heat transfer coefficient is presented.     

Transient hygrothermal stresses in composites: Coupling of moisture and heat with temperature varying diffusivity

In this paper, the influence of coupled diffusion of heat and moisture on the transient stresses in a composite is investigated analytically where the moisture diffusion coefficient is taken to be temperature dependent while the thermal diffusion coefficient is kept constant. There is no a priori reason why moisture and temperature should be uncoupled such that each will obey the simple diffusion theory, particularly without reference made to the initial and boundary conditions of a particular situation. A study of the coupled diffusion equations were made by a finite-difference scheme allowing for time-dependent changes in the humidity and temperature of the environment. The appropriate transient boundary conditions are specified on the surfaces of an infinite plate. Numerical calculations were carried out for the T300/5208 graphite fiber-reinforced epoxy matrix composite in which the nonuniformity of moisture and temperature is evaluated for sudden changes in the surface moisture and/or temperature. The coupling effect between temperature and moisture is found to be most significant when the plate undergoes a sudden change in surface temperature while the surface moisture concentration is held constant. The present findings indicate that the stresses due to coupling can deviate from the uncoupled results anywhere from 20 to 80% depending on the surface temperature gradient. This suggests the need to perform additional experiments for evaluating the coupled diffusion phenomenon and its influence on the mechanical behavior of epoxy-resin-composites.     

The temperature dependence of the transport potential of moisture in capillary-porous solids

Results of determination of dependence of moisture diffusion coefficient and thermogradient coefficient of loams and Chasov Yar clay on moisture content at different dry densities are presented.     

Steady state CFD modeling of airflow, heat transfer and moisture loss in a commercial potato cold store

Storage loss beyond permissible limit is one of the most important problems in Indian potato cold stores, which has been hindering further growth of this industry. The losses in the stored potatoes have a direct relation to the intricate coupled transport phenomena of heat, mass and momentum transfer therein. Therefore, airflow, heat transfer and moisture loss was investigated in a potato cold store of commercial scale under steady state condition using the computational fluid dynamics technique. The developed CFD model was a two-dimensional simplification of the cold store. Heat and mass transfer at the cooling coils were not modeled, instead temperature and relative humidity in the air space were specified based on measured values. The model was validated in a commercial scale cold store and was found to be capable of predicting the air velocity as well as product temperature with an average accuracy of 19.5% and 0.5 °C, respectively and also the simulated average total moisture loss was found to be only 0.61% water (w.b.) higher than the experimental one for a storage period of 6 months. The main deficiencies of the airflow pattern which resulted in wide variations in temperature and moisture loss within the stored commodity can be investigated. The model located the probable zones of hot and cold spots, excessive product dehydration and moisture condensation within the storage facility, which might lead to qualitative and quantitative deterioration in stored product. This modeling tool could very well be applied to incorporate necessary design improvements with a view to improve the airflow distribution and heat transfer in order to limit the storage losses within the permissible limit.     

Long-term moisture transport in high performance concrete

Moisture is decisive for a large number of binding and transport processes in high performance concrete affecting the durability, shrinkage and performance in various environments. An experimental study on the moisture transport properties of 20 concrete mixes was made during seven years, with type of binder, additives and waterbinder ratio as parameters. An upside-down glass cup method was used to obtain the steady-state flow through concrete discs. The moisture diffusion coefficient decreases with a lower water-binder ratio, increasing amount of silica fume, especially when combined with fly ash and it continues to decrease also after four years for w/B lower than 0.40. The moisture diffusion coefficient is much less moisture dependent for HPC than for normal concrete, which means that steady-state moisture profiles through HPC structures will be almost linear. Long-term moisture profiles in submerged HPC will be affected by self-desiccation for a very long time because of the extremely small moisture flow.

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Résumé L'humidité a une influence prépondérante sur un grand nombre de processus d'interaction et de transport qui affectent de manière directe la durabilité, le retrait et le comportement des bétons à haute performance (BHP) soumis à différents types de conditions d'exposition. Une étude expérimentale sur les propriétés de transport d'humidité de 20 mélanges de béton a été effectuée durant une période de sept ans. Les variables étudiées concernaient le type de ciment et d'ajouts ainsi que le rapport eau/liant. Une procédure spéciale a été utilisée de manière à être en mesure de réaliser les essais de transfert d'humidité en régime permanent. Les résultats des essais indiquent que le coefficient de diffusion d'humidité diminue avec une réduction du rapport eau/liant, une augmentation de la teneur en fumée de silice, tout particulièrement lorsque celle-ci est utilisée avec des cendres volantes. Pour des bétons de rapports eau/liant inférieurs à 0,40, la réduction du coefficient d'humidité se poursuit toujours même après 4 ans d'hydration. Le coefficient de diffusion d'humidité des BHP semble être beaucoup moins sensible à la teneur en eau que celui des bétons ordinaires ce qui signifie que les profils d'humidité en régime permanent sont presque linéaires. Les profils d'humidité à long terme dans BHP submergés seront fortement affectés par l'autodessiccation.

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Editorial Note Prof. Lars-Olof Nilsson is a RILEM Senior Member. He participates in RILEM TC 178-TMC ‘Testing and modelling chloride penetration in concrete’.     

Application of instantaneous profile measurement of moisture content and moisture potential in porous materials

Due to limits in current moisture content and moisture potential measurement technology, moisture transport is normally investigated under equilibrium conditions. Most processes we observe in nature are, however, transient and hardly ever reach an equilibrium stage. This means that future experimental methods in moisture transport investigation will focus on transient processes. One such method is the instantaneous profile measurement (IPM) technique frequently used in soil science. It can be applied to investigate moisture transport under transient conditions. Two measurement principles are combined in one material to record data for moisture content and moisture potential at the same time and at various points. As output, moisture content and moisture potential profiles are plotted against space and time. The method was applied to different porous materials, and hygroscopic loading and deloading cycles were conducted in the relative humidity range between 30 and 97%. The data obtained is not in strict agreement with static or steady-state observations. This reveals information about moisture transport kinetics. These findings are discussed in the context of the literature and with regard to their significance for current moisture transport models, which are typically based on equilibrium data.     

Investigation into the ship motion induced moisture migration during seaborne coal transport

The inherent moisture in a coal cargo constantly migrates under the dynamic ship motion during maritime transport. The moisture often builds up at the bottom of the cargo. The accumulated water, if not removed sufficiently by the bilge well, can cause safety concerns during a voyage and difficulties during cargo unloading. The study presented in this paper aims to develop a program to investigate the moisture migration within coal cargoes in order to assess and eliminate shipping risks. The moisture migration phenomenon is initially modelled by adopting the classic infiltration theory, and considering the ship motions experienced by bulk carriers. An experimental method is developed to empirically characterise the moisture migration of a coal sample under simulated shipping dynamics. A predictive model is also developed to estimate the total moisture migration in a full size cargo by properly scaling up the experimental results. The model was validated by bilge well log collected from actual coal shipping voyages from Australia to international destinations.     

A computational fluid dynamic model of the heat and moisture transfer during beef chilling

The unsteady heat and mass transfer process during beef carcass chilling was modelled for a three-dimensional beef carcass geometry. A three-step method was used to simulate the simultaneous heat and mass transfer process in order to reduce the computational time. In the first step, a steady state simulation of the flow field was conducted. In the second step, the local heat and mass transfer coefficients were calculated. Finally, the third step consists of the simultaneous heat and mass transfer process simulation on the meat carcass only. A separate 1-D grid was used to calculate the moisture diffusion in the meat. The simulation of a 20-h chilling run takes 5 days on a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 computer. The model allows calculating and predicting the heat load, temperatures, weight loss and water activity. Local variations in the heat and mass transfer coefficients, temperature and water activity were found around the beef carcass. The CFD model gives temperature predictions that agree with experimental data better than any previous model. The weight loss tends to be over-predicted probably due to neglecting the resistance caused by the fat cover.