HEAT AND MOISTURE TRANSFER IN CAPILLARY-POROUS BODIES SOME EXPERIMENTAL METHODS OF INVESTIGATION

This paper presents a synthesis of our scientific activity in the area of heat and moisture transfers in capillary-porous bodies. The materials which have been under investigation are essentially in the field of Civil Engineering but our ways of experimentation may be generalized.

Transfers may be characterized by two independent variables : temperature and water content. We have been concerned by the achievement of measurement technics of these quantities and of perturbation technics of materials at equilibrium.

When comparing a fitting model and the temperature or water content response to such perturbations, it is possible to infer the values of parameters which are significant. Then, the experimental results must be compared with results obtained by other authors or by means of different methods.

In the future, the assumption of an unstrained porous skeleton will not be kept any longer and the coupling of transfers with mechanical phenomena will be considered.