Development of a Digital Workflow for Improving Hygrothermal Modelling of Heritage Structures

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Conservation of our existing building stock is becoming a more significant portion of architecture andengineering practice in Canada. Heritage masonry buildings whether stone or brick, have proven to have beendurable in Canadian climates surviving over 100 years or more. A weak point of these walls is that they areconsidered to have poor energy performance compared to modern code standards. When considering thermalcomfort and the desire to reduce energy consumption, there is often consideration to installing thermalinsulation along interior face of walls during a retrofit/rehabilitation scenario. This is known to have a negativeeffect on the durability of the wall leaving exposed to colder and wetter interstitial conditions and prone tofreeze-thaw and other moisture-related damages [1]. The questions that follow are; how far can a masonry wallbe pushed before the risk of moisture damage becomes unacceptable? And how do you quantify or determinethis risk?The industry problem is to develop a workflow which effectively combines hygrothermal and energy modellingsoftware to analyze the hygrothermal performance of wall assemblies; while at the same time includingconsideration of the simultaneous effects of mechanical systems and interior conditions as a system. This workwill help with the understanding of the current baseline condition of the walls; and help guide and justify theirdesign proposals.The underlying challenge is to develop a hybrid workflow for hygrothermal and energy modelling of heritagestructures which effectively utilizes the capabilities of software programs such as WUFI and EnergyPlus. Forheritage structures, there are specific gaps in understanding and procedural workflow which need to beaddressed. This new workflow seeks to build off of previously developed workflows for the analysis ofhygrothermal performance of walls in isolation, and add to it consideration of system level changes such asmechanical systems which will affect interior conditions.