Field measurement of moisture-buffering model inputs for residential buildings

Woods, Jason; Winkler, Jon

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.008

Title: Field measurement of moisture-buffering model inputs for residential buildings

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Abstract

Moisture adsorption and desorption in building materials impact indoor humidity. This effect should be included in building-energy simulations, particularly when humidity is being investigated or controlled. Several models can calculate this moisture-buffering effect, but accurate ones require model inputs that are not always known to the user of the building-energy simulation. This research developed an empirical method to extract whole-house model inputs for the effective moisture penetration depth (EMPD) model. The experimental approach was to subject the materials in the house to a square-wave relative-humidity profile, measure all of the moisture-transfer terms (e.g., infiltration, air-conditioner condensate), and calculate the only unmeasured term—the moisture sorption into the materials. We validated this method with laboratory measurements, which we used to measure the EMPD model inputs of two houses. After deriving these inputs, we measured the humidity of the same houses during tests with realistic latent and sensible loads and demonstrated the accuracy of this approach. Furthermore, these results show that the EMPD model, when given reasonable inputs, is an accurate moisture-buffering model.

Authors:

Woods, Jason ^[1]; Winkler, Jon ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Publication Date:: Fri Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2016

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office

OSTI Identifier:: 1239643

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1359048

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5500-65149
Journal ID: ISSN 0378-7788

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Energy and Buildings

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 117; Related Information: Energy and Buildings; Journal ID: ISSN 0378-7788

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; moisture capacitance; buildings; modeling; moisture buffering; effective penetration depth

Citation Formats


                    Woods, Jason, and Winkler, Jon. Field measurement of moisture-buffering model inputs for residential buildings.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.008.

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                    Woods, Jason, & Winkler, Jon. Field measurement of moisture-buffering model inputs for residential buildings.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.008

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                    Woods, Jason, and Winkler, Jon. Fri .  
"Field measurement of moisture-buffering model inputs for residential buildings".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.008.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1239643.

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@article{osti_1239643,

  title        = {Field measurement of moisture-buffering model inputs for residential buildings},

  author       = {Woods, Jason and Winkler, Jon},

  abstractNote = {Moisture adsorption and desorption in building materials impact indoor humidity. This effect should be included in building-energy simulations, particularly when humidity is being investigated or controlled. Several models can calculate this moisture-buffering effect, but accurate ones require model inputs that are not always known to the user of the building-energy simulation. This research developed an empirical method to extract whole-house model inputs for the effective moisture penetration depth (EMPD) model. The experimental approach was to subject the materials in the house to a square-wave relative-humidity profile, measure all of the moisture-transfer terms (e.g., infiltration, air-conditioner condensate), and calculate the only unmeasured term—the moisture sorption into the materials. We validated this method with laboratory measurements, which we used to measure the EMPD model inputs of two houses. After deriving these inputs, we measured the humidity of the same houses during tests with realistic latent and sensible loads and demonstrated the accuracy of this approach. Furthermore, these results show that the EMPD model, when given reasonable inputs, is an accurate moisture-buffering model.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.008},

  journal      = {Energy and Buildings},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 117,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Fri Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2016},

  month        = {Fri Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2016}

}

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