The Design, Construction and Commissioning of a Small Scale Dynamic Calibrated Hot Box (CHB)

Syracuse, NY

Sustainable construction and in particular the sustainability of materials is a global issue with legislation on material properties and product performance at the forefront. In traditional constructed buildings however, it can be extremely challenging to get accurate data on performance. The variability of building materials design, manufacture and construction from different eras is substantial, even within local areas due to the vernacular nature of construction from these periods. Material properties testing can be expensive and is not always readily available when required and is therefore often ignored, particularly in the retrofitting of historic buildings. This can have major adverse effects on the building fabric and for its inhabitant’s health if the appropriate material interventions are not chosen. An inexpensive environmental chamber for testing such materials has been designed and built at the Dublin Institute of Technology, (DIT) Ireland, adopting comparable standards from EN ISO 8990 and ASTM C1363. This paper describes the design requirements for the construction of an affordable and mobile calibrated hot box (CHB) for the testing of historic materials. A characterisation panel has been used to carry out early calibration testing and the results of this are discussed. Improvements and tweaking of the first test are also discussed.

https://surface.syr.edu/ibpc/2018/posters/32