ISSN: 1546-962X
CODEN: JAIOAD
Published Online: 21 September 2009
Page Count: 13

A New Testing Method to Evaluate the Relative Drying Performance of Different Building Envelope Systems Using Water Trays in Stud Cavities as Moisture Source

Fazio, Paul
Dept. of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Building Envelope Performance Laboratory, Centre for Building Studies, Concordia Univ., Montreal, QC

Alturkistani, Arslan
Dept. of Architecture and Building Sciences, College of Architecture and Planning, King Saud Univ., Riyadh,

Rao, Jiwu
Dept. of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Building Envelope Performance Laboratory, Centre for Building Studies, Concordia Univ., Montreal, QC

Mao, Qian
Institute for Applied Hydraulic Engineering, Zhejiang Water Conservancy and Hydropower College, Hangzhou,

(Received 5 September 2008; accepted 28 July 2009)

Abstract

Due to defects in construction, design, and/or deterioration during operation, failure occurs where rain water penetrates into stud cavities of wall systems. Some wall systems tolerate this water intrusion better than others. A new test method has been developed to evaluate the relative capacities of different wall systems to dry out the invading water. In the test setup, the walls of a two-story test hut were made up of 31 wall assemblies (each 2.44×0.76 m²) of different configurations. The hut was erected within a large climatic chamber and subjected to a steady-state climatic loading for 288 days. Within each stud cavity, a water tray on an electronic load cell was placed on the bottom plate to provide a moisture source that represents water penetrating into the stud cavity and provides a consistent moisture loading from one specimen to another. Each wall assembly was instrumented with 25 gravimetric samples and relative humidity and temperature sensors/probes. Indexes were developed to indicate the relative performance of the walls.

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Paper ID: JAI102085
DOI: 10.1520/JAI102085
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