Hygrothermal behavior modeling of the hygroscopic envelopes of buildings: A dynamic co-simulation approach

High levels of humidity in buildings lead to building pathologies. Moisture also has an impact on the indoor air quality and the hygrothermal comfort of the building’s occupants. To better assess these pathologies, it is necessary to take into account the heat and moisture transfer between the building envelope and its indoor ambience. In this work, a new methodology was developed to predict the overall behavior of buildings, which combines two simulation tools: COMSOL Multiphysics© and TRNSYS. The first software is used for the modeling of heat, air and moisture transfer in multilayer porous walls (HAM model: Heat, Air and Moisture transfer), and the second is used to simulate the hygrothermal behavior of the building (BES model: Building Energy Simulation). The combined software applications dynamically solve the mass and energy conservation equations of the two physical models. The HAM-BES coupling efficiency was verified. In this paper, the use of a coupled (HAM-BES) co-simulation for the prediction of the hygrothermal behavior of building envelopes is discussed. Furthermore, the effect of the 2D HAM modeling on relative humidity variations within the building ambience is shown. The results confirm the importance of the HAM modeling in the envelope on the hygrothermal behavior and energy demand of buildings.     

新建建筑围护结构热质传递对室内温湿度环境的影响

新建建筑第1年由于较大的内表面散湿量会影响室内的温湿度水平,严重的会引起围护结构内表面霉菌。为分析新建建筑第1年围护结构的湿传递对室内温湿度环境的影响,本文对哈尔滨地区新建建筑综合热质耦合传递进行了模拟,分别建立了围护结构和室内空气的质能平衡方程,并讨论了夏季不同的室内通风率对围护结构内表面散湿量及室内温湿度的影响,得出了几点重要结论。     

新建建筑围护结构干燥过程的热质耦合传递研究

本文模拟了新建建筑围护结构干燥过程中的热质耦合传递过程。对比了室内条件、围护结构保温层热侧的隔汽层、冷侧的空气层以及围护结构内表面墙纸的使用对新建建筑围护结构干燥过程中热质耦合传递的影响,并得出几点重要结论。     

Heat and mass coupled transfer combined with freezing process in building materials: Modeling and experimental verification

Newly completed building envelope is always characterized by high initial moisture content, and so the liquid moisture permeability is the main feature of mass transferring on its initial use. The high initial moisture content has strong impact on indoor condition and energy consumption especially in severe cold area where the moisture freezing in building envelope would occur in winter. Therefore, accurately predicting the hygrothermal states of building envelope to obtain useful envelope parameters is very important. In order to analyze the moisture transferring performance of enclosure on building initial use in severe cold area, the paper studied the coupling transfer of heat and moisture in building envelope. The permeability and freezing of the liquid water in porous building material were considered. The moisture content gradient was used as mass transfer driving force, and the temperature gradient was used as heat transfer driving forces. Heat and moisture coupled transfer conservation equations on different transferring conditions were built. An experimental set-up was built to verify the model, and good agreements were obtained, which suggests that the model can be used to simulate the heat and moisture coupled transfer in newly completed building envelope of severe cold area.     

新建节能建筑墙体材料层及排布对干燥过程的影响

建筑围护结构内的热湿耦合传递是一个非常复杂的过程,其研究是降低建筑能耗、评估和预防湿害、提高室内热舒适性、室内卫生及优化围护结构性能的基础。新建节能建筑墙体具有初始含湿量大的特点,若墙体湿积累过大,则容易出现墙体表面剥蚀、渗漏、发霉甚至结构出现损坏的现象。墙体干燥时,传热传质过程同时发生且相互耦合。目前相关热物性仿真软件、理论研究和设计规范主要建立在热传递的基础上,忽略了湿传递的影响,对新建建筑墙体干燥不适用。WUFI~? Pro热湿仿真软件充分考虑了材料本身含湿量、风驱雨、太阳辐射、长波辐射、毛细传输和夏季结露等典型气候的影响,实现了对自然气候条件下建筑构件非稳态热湿性能的真实计算。节能墙体多在外墙添加内外保温层来增加围护结构的传热热阻,且在保温层内外两侧分别添加隔汽层和空气层的措施来防止保温层受潮,最终提高围护结构的保温性能。为墙体美观,多在围护结构的内外两侧分别黏贴墙纸和釉面砖。采用WUFI~? Pro对北京地区2种典型的建筑墙体进行热湿耦合传递模拟,分析新建建筑墙体在不同保温层材料和位置时的干燥过程,以及保温层两侧的隔汽层和空气层、墙体两侧的墙纸和釉面砖对墙体干燥过程的影响。模拟用室外条件为北京典型气象年小时室外气象参数,室内条件设定室内冬季供暖温度T_1=20℃,夏季室内温度设计值T_2=25℃,全年平均相对湿度为50%。模拟外围护结构属于西向,墙体温湿度初始条件为:相对湿度为100%,温度为15℃。模拟结果表明:内保温层的设置非常不利于围护结构的干燥,容易在内保温层和砌块之形成湿积累,降低围护结构的耐久性;EPS、PU和XPS都能降低围护结构含湿量,但EPS更有利于墙体干燥;隔汽层和空气层的添加可一定程度上阻止保温层受潮,避免造成湿积累,进而提高围护结构的保温性能;釉面砖和墙纸的黏贴将严重延缓围护结构的干燥过程,降低围护结构的保温性能,缩减建筑构件的使用寿命。     

长江中下游地区梅雨季节的室内热湿环境

经过调研得到长江中下游地区(以南京为例)梅雨季节住宅建筑室内热湿状况,并分析3种不同建筑能耗计算模型(整体建筑热湿空气流动耦合模型HAM,传递函数模型CTF,有效湿渗透深度模型EMPD)的准确性。数值模型基于Matlab-Simulink编写,使用调研数据进行验证,进而使用梅雨季节典型气象参数模拟分析。调研结果显示在2013年梅雨季节,多数时间内建筑室内温度高于28℃,相对湿度高于70%。数值模拟结果显示3种能耗模型对室内温度模拟的差异较小,而对室内湿度的模拟存在较大差异,特别是CTF模型误差最大。结果显示在长江中下游地区梅雨季节,当房间换气次数小于2ACH时,围护结构对于室内环境湿缓冲的作用明显,选择合适的吸放湿材料可有效降低建筑能耗30%以上。     

Hygrothermische Wirkungen von Raum‐ und Außenoberflächen

The hygrothermal effect of inside and outside building envelope surfaces. In the past the protection of building constructions under outdoor and indoor climate conditions was one of the most important subjects building physics. Nowadays the energy balance and the hygrothermal performance of building envelopes are current topics. This paper deals with the coupled heat and moisture transfer on the internal and external envelope surfaces. By means of numerical simulation and laboratory investigation the influence of the internal surface of exterior walls on the indoor air humidity is demonstrated. The influence of evaporation cooling on the energy transfer in winter time and during the warm season requires investigations on dewing and driving. It depends on the hygroscopic parameters of the outside wall coating. The effect of infrared reflecting coating is determined. It is shown in which way heat sources integrated in exterior walls could be a possibility to avoid microbiological growth on building envelopes.     

Impact of combined moisture buffering capacity of a hemp concrete building envelope and interior objects on the hygrothermal performance in a room

In this article, a hygrothermal building model, taking into account the building envelope, indoor heat and moisture sources, indoor environment and moisture buffering capacity of interior objects, is presented and validated with the test cases found in the literature. The model is used to study the impact of hemp concrete and the moisture buffer capacity of the interior elements on the prediction of the hygrothermal comfort in the building. The numerical results show that the use of hemp concrete in buildings can ensure good hygrothermal comfort. Besides, taking into account the effect of moisture buffering of indoor objects increases the building performance. Our results also suggest that neglecting moisture transfer through the envelope increases significantly the predicted percentage of dissatisfied indices and reduces the acceptability of indoor air quality during the occupied period. This study also confirmed that the combined relative humidity-sensitive ventilation system and moisture buffering capacity of building envelope and of interior objects is a very efficient way to reduce the heating energy consumption.     

居住建筑围护结构的节能问题

从适宜居住的角度讲,我国绝大部分地区的居住建筑都要采取一定的技术措施来保证冬夏两季的室内热舒适环境。冬夏两季室内维持的温度与室外的温度有很大的差别,这个温差导致能量以热的形式流出或流入室内,采暖,空调设备消耗的能量主要就是用来补充这个能量损失的。在相同的室内外温差条件下,建筑围护结构保温隔热性能的好坏,直接影响到流出或流入室内的热量的多少。建筑围护结构保温隔热性能好,流出或流入室内的热量就少,采暖,空调设备消耗的能量也就少;反之,建筑围护结构保温隔热性能差,流现或流入室内的热量就多,采暖,空调设备消耗的能量也就多。我国现行的居住建筑节能设计标准对建筑围护结构保温隔热性能提出了明确的要求,按照节能设计标准的要求去设计,新建的居住建筑就能比具有传统围护结构的同类建筑节约25％－35％的采暖,空调能耗,而且节能的潜力还十分巨大。     

Coupling indoor airflow,HVAC, control and building envelope heat transfer in the Modelica Buildings library

This paper describes a coupled dynamic simulation of an indoor environment with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, controls and building envelope heat transfer. The coupled simulation can be used for the design and control of ventilation systems with stratified air distributions. Those systems are commonly used to reduce building energy consumption while improving the indoor environment quality. The indoor environment was simulated using the fast fluid dynamics (FFD) simulation programme. The building fabric heat transfer, HVAC and control system were modelled using the Modelica Buildings library. After presenting the concept, the mathematical algorithm and the implementation of the coupled simulation were introduced. The coupled FFD–Modelica simulation was then evaluated using three examples of room ventilation with complex flow distributions with and without feedback control. Further research and development needs were also discussed.     

Simultaneous heat and moisture transfer in soils combined with building simulation

In order to precisely predict ground heat transfer, room air temperature and humidity, a combined model has been developed and conceived to calculate both the coupled heat and moisture transfer in soil and floor and the psychrometrics condition of indoor air. The present methodology for the soil is based on the theory of Philip and De Vries, using variable thermophysical properties for different materials. The governing equations were discretized using the finite-volume method and a three-dimensional model for describing the physical phenomena of heat and mass transfer in unsaturated moist porous soils and floor. Additionally, a lumped transient approach for a building room and a finite-volume multi-layer model for the building envelope have been developed to integrate with the soil model. Results are presented in terms of temperature, humidity and heat flux at the interface between room air and the floor, showing the importance of the approach presented and the model robustness for long-term simulations with a high time step.     

Analysis of the condensation risk on exterior surface of building envelopes

The main sources of moisture on building façades are rain and condensation. Being moisture a prerequisite for the development of microbial growth it is of great interest to identify and analyse the factors responsible for these wetting mechanisms. The development of the microbial vegetation, in addition of being potentially damaging to the building envelope, creates a visual nuisance. This work aims to study the external environment conditions favourable for exterior surface condensation of buildings. The risk for occurrence of surface condensation depends mainly on the surface energy balance and on the moisture content of the ambient air. Because external surface temperature of buildings are very sensitive to convective and radiative exchanges, the investigation has been conducted analysing both convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients for a wide range of scenarios covering different climate sensitivities and building envelope qualities. The analysis has shown that convection and the moisture content of the air play a key role in the occurrence of surface condensations on building façades.     

Modelling of heat and moisture transfer in buildings: I. Model program

The overall objective of this work is to develop an accurate model for predicting heat and moisture transfer in buildings including building envelopes and indoor air. The model is based on the fundamental thermodynamic relations. Darcy’s law, Fick’s law and Fourier’s law are used in describing the transfer equations. The resultant nonlinear system of partial differential equations is discretised in space by the finite element method. The time marching scheme, Crank–Nicolson scheme, is used to advance the solution in time. The final numerical solution provides transient temperature and moisture distributions in building envelopes as well as temperature and moisture content for building’s indoor air subject to outdoor weather conditions described as temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation and wind speed. A series measurements were conducted in order to investigate the model performance. The simulated values were compared against the actual measured values. A good agreement was obtained.     

Implementation of a method in EN ISO 13790 for calculating the utilisation factor taking into account different permeability levels of internal coverings

The general methodology for estimating energy consumption in buildings, in accordance with the EN ISO 13790, needs the use of constants that are valid for each set of climatic conditions. Furthermore, there are variables other than building structure and weather conditions that have an influence. In this sense, recent research works showed the real effect of permeable coverings on indoor environmental conditions, by controlling indoor moisture. The effect of the associated heat and mass transfer on heating or cooling energy consumption is evident during the initial hours of building occupation. In the present paper, the general methodology of building heat demand calculation is modified to consider different levels of permeability of internal coverings, in order to obtain a more accurate model. Results showed that permeable coverings are related with a higher building utilisation factor, and that the value of this factor is higher in summer than in winter season. Consequently, despite the fact that the sensibility of energy consumption to internal coverings may be lower than to building envelope, new constants are proposed to express a relationship between building permeability and energy consumption, in order to apply the certification equation.     

Heat and moisture balance simulation of a building with vapor-open envelope system for subtropical regions

Global warming and the resource depletion induced discussions on sustainable developments within the construction sector. Also the rapid urbanization in subtropical regions is becoming one of the most important global issues. Appropriate measures must be taken in such developments to avoid further damage to the environment. In this study, the heat and moisture balance simulation of building with a sustainable building envelope system for subtropical climate was proposed. In the moisture balance simulation the moisture buffering by the interior materials was taken into account. The prediction of moisture buffer value (MBV) of the interior finishing materials was attempted and validated by measurements. Subsequently, the whole building calculation was carried out and the contribution of the moisture buffering to the indoor comfort and energy consumption was investigated. The MBVs of the mineral-based materials were predicted with high accuracy. However, that of wood-based composite was much higher than the experimental value. In order to create a more accurate model, nonlinear moisture conductance should be accounted when modeling wood-based materials. The heating and cooling demand of a test house was 9.4 kWh/m² and 14.5 kWh/m², respectively. It was concluded that the utilization of the building envelope system has a high potential to provide sustainable houses in subtropical regions. In order to enhance both energy efficiency and indoor comfort of buildings in subtropical regions, there still is a strong need to develop a holistic method to find the optimum building design considering not only moisture buffering but also all the relevant factors. The presented model will be validated by in-situ measurements in the near future.     

湿传递对建筑墙体传热性能的影响

建筑物的耗能与建筑围护结构的传热传湿密切相关,了解建筑墙体内部的热湿传递对建筑节能有重要影响。以相对湿度和温度梯度为驱动势建立墙体一维非稳态热、湿和空气耦合传递模型(HAM模型),并利用有限元法进行了数值求解,重点关注了湿传递对传热的影响。数值结果表明:考虑传湿时墙体内部温度波动小,墙体进行热湿传递会产生湿积累,降低墙体使用年限;考虑传湿时通过墙体总传热量比不考虑传湿时多7.5%;考虑传湿时内壁面最大平均数比不考虑传湿时大0.78。     

重庆农村住宅热环境调查与能耗模拟分析

通过对重庆地区农村住宅的实地调研和对农村典型住宅室内外温度的连续监测,获得农村住宅的主要围护结构类型及典型农村住宅供暖季与空调季的室内、外热环境状况,利用重庆地区自然通风适应性热舒适性评价模型进行分析。在现有农村住宅围护结构热工性能条件下,供暖季室内温度达到舒适范围的有0 d,空调季有73 d;室内热环境状况差,冬季保温要求比夏季隔热要求更高。在供暖空调设备典型运行模式下,以调研数据为基础,借助DeST-h软件对农村典型住宅供暖空调能耗进行模拟,获得了农村住宅单位建筑面积供暖空调设备耗电量。     

Modeling of the hygrothermal absorption and desorption for underground building envelopes

The hygrothermal storage characteristics of an underground building envelope have discernible effects on the heat and humidity of the indoor environment. To predict the hygrothermal storage capacity, it is necessary to accurately calculate the transient heat and moisture flux through the envelope. This paper describes the development of a new hygrothermal model described with relative humidity and temperature based on the results of existing researches. The moisture model fully states actual moisture transfer process involving both vapor diffusion and liquid water migration in porous building envelopes. Verified using the results calculated by the mathematical model of Mendes et al., the new hygrothermal model can accurately predict the heat and moisture transfer of building envelopes. Hygrothermal absorption and desorption of three types of common underground building envelopes in Chengdu region in China are analyzed by using the new model. The results show that the hygrothermal absorption and desorption of underground building envelopes must be considered when the heat and moisture environment is controlled by HVAC. Taking account of these factors can reduce air-conditioning equipment capacity and save running energy.     

Moisture balance assessment at room scale for four cases based on numerical simulations of heat–air–moisture transfers for a realistic occupancy scenario

The moisture balance at room scale is influenced by the air change rate, moisture production and vapour transfer with the envelope. However, results may differ strongly from one study to another depending on the sizing of the ventilation system, the boundary conditions and the modelling of vapour transfer in the walls. This paper aims to provide a realistic comparison of usual construction techniques based on energy consumption, indoor comfort and durability. To achieve this objective, an existing whole-building heat–air–moisture simulation tool was selected to compute coupled transfer at room scale over an entire year. Moisture production due to occupancy was modelled using a stochastic approach. Four cases were selected to emphasize the differences of both a vapour-permeable wall assembly and a relative humidity sensitive ventilation system compared to common practices.