Self drying roofs: What! No dripping!

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:201741

Desjarlais, A

Many roofs are replaced because water accumulates in portions of the roofing system.These accumulations can cause dripping, accelerated membrane failure, poor thermal performance, the threat of structural decay, and the depreciation of building assets. Traditionally, the roofing industry has been concerned with controlling the inflow of water into the roof. An example of this strategy would be the development of a more reliable membrane. However, roof membranes inevitably leak. For this reason, the roof design strategy of the future must be concerned with controlling water outflow. The requirements of this type of roof system are described. Under normal operating conditions (no leaks), the total moisture content of a self-drying roof system shall not increase with time and condensation shall not occur under the membrane during winter uptake. Moisture vapor movement by convection must be eliminated and the flow of water by gravity through imperfections in the roof system must be controlled. After a leak has occurred, no condensation on the upper surface of the deck shall be tolerated and the water introduced by the leak must be dissipated to the building interior in a minimum amount of time. Finite difference computer modeling is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design. The impact of deck and insulation permeance, climate, leaks, and wintertime water uptake are simulated. A database of simulations is qualitatively described; this database will be used in future work to produce a simplified means of assessing the design parameters of a self-drying roof system.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 201741
• Report Number(s): CONF-951215--5; ON: DE96005748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DESIGN
GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS
LABORATORY BUILDINGS
MAINTENANCE
REPAIR
RETROFITTING
ROOFS