Numerical analysis of heat, air, and moisture transfers in a wooden building material

Abstract

The present paper aims to predict the hygrothermal behavior of massive wood panel considered as bio-based building material. In this context, we developed a macroscopic model coupled no linear heat, air, and moisture transfers that incorporates simultaneously the effect of thermal diffusion and infiltration phenomenon on the building material. The model inputs parameters were evaluated experimentally according to the recognized standards of material?s characterization. Therefore, numerous series of hygrothermal calculation were carried out on the 1-D and 2-D configuration in order to assess the dimensionless effect on such wooden material. Two types of boundary conditions were considered and examined. The first are at the material scale of wood drying process. The second type of conditions is at the wall scale, where the conditions of the building ambiance are considered. Moreover, the model sensitivity to the driving potentials coupling and to the parameters variability was considered and examined. It has been found that the coupling in the model had a remarkable impact on both kinetics of temperature and moisture content.