Innovative device for the simulation of environmental conditions and testing of building materials

0557016 - ÚTAM 2023 RIV CZ eng C - Conference Paper (international conference)
Cacciotti, Riccardo - Wolf, Benjamin - Macháček, Michael - Frankl, Jiří
Innovative device for the simulation of environmental conditions and testing of building materials.
Engineering mechanics 2022. Book of full texts. Prague: Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 2022 - (Fischer, C.; Náprstek, J.), s. 49-52. ISBN 978-80-86246-48-2. ISSN 1805-8248. E-ISSN 1805-8256.
[International Conference Engineering mechanics 2022. Milovy (CZ), 09.05.2022-12.05.2022]
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA20-12941S
Institutional support: RVO:68378297
Keywords : building envelope * moisture * building material * wind tunnel * performance
OECD category: Civil engineering
https://www.engmech.cz/im/proceedings/show_p/2022/049

Excessive humidity influences the performance of building envelopes and the safety of their occupants. Moisture related problems can indeed impose significant health risks for buildings’ users and even lead, under extreme scenarios, to structural failures. This paper investigates an innovative experimental setup for evaluating the influence of changing environmental conditions on the performance of building materials. It stems out from a broader ongoing research aimed at studying the trends of mould growth on wooden building components. The presented results include the design, construction and numerical validation of a small-scale climatic wind tunnel (2m x 1.8m ca.) to be used for the simulation of natural ventilation and daily humidity and temperature fluctuations. Key findings include the final design of a low cost, modular construction which allows gathering reliable data on the response of building materials exposed to changing boundary conditions, intended for improving current mould growth models. Future work is also suggested.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0331333