Analysis of heat and moisture transfer in building components by conjugate modeling

This work presents a numerical analysis of heat and moisture transfer in building components in presence of a convective ow. Numerical simulation can supply important information for a correct design and for the choice of proper materials. At present, specific software for hygrothermal simulation in building-physics application, based on the works of Künzel and Grunewald are available. This software enables HAM (Heat, Air, Moisture) modeling in porous media; however CFD (computational fluid dynamic) and 3D modeling are not yet included. A coupling approach for the equations of transport in the porous and fluid media is used, avoiding previous calculation of convective heat and mass transfer coeffi cients. The coupled diff erential equations are solved using fi nite element procedure for both gas phase and solid. Since CFD may present high complexity and signifi cant computational e ffort, also a simplifi ed approach, convenient for long-period simulation, is derived. In the rst part of the thesis the mathematical model is described. In the second part both the approaches are validated through comparison with experimental data taken from the literature. Following, the plausibility of the results is investigated for various case studies and comparisons with other simulation programs is performed.