A CRITICAL REVIEW OF HYGROTHERMAL MODELS USED IN POROUS BUILDING MATERIALS

Abstract

During the past few decades there has been much development and increased professional use of tools to simulate some of the processes that are involved in the analysis of heat, air, and moisture (HAM) conditions in individual constructions that form the building envelope or whole building. This manuscript presents a review of the development and application of hygrothermal analysis methods to simulate the coupled transport processes of heat and moisture for one- or multidimensional cases. As the vast majority of hygrothermal models available in literature are not readily available to the public outside of the organization where they were developed, in this analysis we consider only the 14 hygrothermal modeling tools that are generally available to the public. Finally, the results produced by two hygrothermal models, WUFI and hygIRC, for the prediction of exterior superficial temperatures on facades are compared and analyzed.