Hygroscopic inertia influence on indoor environments : moisture buffering

Abstract

In recent years great advances have been made, both in terms of regulation and technology, regarding the thermal behavior of buildings. However, a sustainable building, in addition to being energy efficient, must also ensure adequate hygroscopic performance, so as to guarantee adequate indoor air quality and comfort. As well as thermal inertia plays a very important role in the energy demand of buildings, the hygroscopic inertia of their enclosures is a regulating element in the hygroscopic balance of their interior environments, which, when properly used, can regulate the abrupt oscillations of relative humidity inside. In particular, the inner layer of the enclosures of a building interacts with the interior environment adsorbing and desorbing moisture as a function of the relative humidity of the indoor air, and therefore, that damping capacity constitutes an important term on the moisture balance of the spaces. In this paper the influence of the moisture buffering capacity of different materials on inside relative humidity is studied for different climates, ventilation rates and vapor production schemes by numerical simulation.