Hygrothermal Performance Assessment of Wall Systems With Various Concrete and Insulation Configurations

Syracuse, NY

The moisture performance of building envelope assemblies has always been a major concern of designers. Building envelope is constantly exposed to moisture loads such as exterior and interior humidity, rain, groundwater, snow and construction moisture. Therefore, it is critical to control the moisture migration mechanism within building envelope walls. Moisture accumulation occurs when the wetting potential of building envelope exceeds its drying potential due to applying inappropriate construction materials or configuration designs. Moisture accumulation in mid-rise and high-rise concrete buildings has negative impacts on microbial growth, occupants’ comfort, energy consumption, freeze thaw and compressive and tensile strength of concrete which lead to spent of millions of dollars on the repair in North America every year. Therefore, evaluation and prediction of moisture performance of building envelope components are important design factors that should be considered to minimize the risk of moisture accumulation in concrete buildings. In this paper, the hygrothermal performance of a number of concrete wall systems with various configuration of concrete and insulation are studied. The performance of these systems in wet and cold climates of Vancouver and Winnipeg are evaluated using a hygrothermal model. The water content of concrete layers and moisture fluxes at the interior and exterior surface layers are analysed and the overall performance of the systems as related to moisture storage and drying behaviour are determined. The results indicate that assemblies with thermal insulation placed on the exterior side of concrete have the highest hygrothermal performance while assemblies with concrete layer sandwiched between two wythes of thermal insulations have the poorest hygrothermal performance.

https://surface.syr.edu/ibpc/2018/BE8/3