2D-Hygrothermal Simulation of Historical Solid Walls

Abstract

The analysis and the knowledge of the historical building masonries are key elements in preserving and enhancing their heritage value in a conscious way. The paper aims at simulating the hygrothermal behaviour of several traditional masonry structures, using a dynamic simulation program (Delphin 5.8.3) for coupling heat, moisture, and matter transport in porous building materials. Traditional walls have different geometries, characteristics, construction techniques, and materials. The most important difficulties in the simulation concern: (i) graphic simplification of complex structures, (ii) definition of the boundary conditions; (iii) layout discretization; and (iv) selection of the materials from the existing databases. In addition, the influence of wall orientation, climate data, and boundary conditions is relevant for the results. The focus of this paper is the comparison between the hygrothermal simulations and the in situ heat flow meter measurements of some traditional Italian solid walls. In this way, we can under-stand the influence of different assumptions, parameters, and simplifications on the virtual models.