Understanding the hygrothermal behaviour of exposed building components is a first step in avoiding damage or undue heat loss from constructions. Since experimental investigations are rather expensive and of limited transferability, there is an urgent need for reliable heat and moisture transfer calculations applicable in building practice. Such a calculation method, which is based on physical evidence concerning vapour and liquid transport and new experimental results, is presented and the required material and climatic data are described. To validate the model the calculation results for the moisture behaviour of a facade exposed to driving rain and solar radiation are compared to well documented measurements. As a consequence of this comparison it appears that the described model provides accurate results despite simplifications concerning the material properties.

• HAM: theory and modelling
• solar energy, radiation

1. Combined effect of temperature and humidity of the detoriation process of insulation materials in ETICS
2. Flexible vapor control solves moisture problems of building assemblies - smart retarder to replace the conventional PE-film
3. Moisture buffering effects of interior linings made from wood or wood based products
4. Mold growth prediction by computational simulation
5. Simulation of indoor temperature and humidity conditions including hygrothermal interactions with the building envelope
6. Simultaneous heat and moisture transport in building components. one- and two-dimensional calculation using simple parameters
7. Two-dimensional transient heat and moisture simulations of rising damp with WUFI 2D
8. Uncertainty of hygrothermal calculations
9. WUFI-ORNL/IBP - A North American Hygrothermal Mode