A novel methodology and new concept of structural dynamic moisture buffering for modeling building moisture dynamics

Abstract

This paper presents a new methodology that takes a physical-statistical approach to dynamically model indoor air humidity and moisture transport in building structures. A new concept, structural dynamics moisture buffer capacity (SDMBC), is introduced that improves on the most commonly used moisture buffer measure. The paper proposes and experimentally proves several novel hypotheses regarding the linear relationship between model variables, great simplifying the derivation of the model equations. The resulting dynamic model is simple, efficient, and easy-to-implement. Furthermore, full-scale experiments using three identical wooden test houses were built to support the development of the dynamic model. Airflow rates were calibrated and verified by experiment. The results of this study establish the practicality of this new modeling methodology which can aid researchers in constructing improved simulation models and designers in selecting building materials to optimize indoor humidity, minimize energy consumption, and provide good indoor environmental quality.