Assessment of building retrofit options using hygrothermal analysis tool

Tariku, Fitsum (Fitsum Tariku (Fitsum_Tariku)) (author)
Mukhopadhyaya, Phalguni (author)
Kumaran, Mavinkal, K (author)
Nofal, Mostafa, E (author)
Van Reenen, David (author)
(editor)
(translator)

Copyright © P. Mukhopadhyaya, M. K. Kumaran, M. Nofal, F. Tariku, D. van Reenen.

Proceedings of 7th Symposium on Building Physics in the Nordic Countries: 13 June 2005, Reykjavik, Iceland. As the stock of buildings in our society ages, it is expected that there will be an increase in building envelope rehabilitation work. Such activities represent an ideal opportunity to modify the existing wall system to improve building envelope durability and energy efficiency. This could be done by addition of insulation and sealing air leakage paths. However, there is very little information available on how to assess the moisture and energy (i.e. thermal) performance of retrofitted building envelope assemblies and select the optimum retrofit options that will maximize the long-term moisture performance and the energy efficiency of the retrofitted building envelopes together. This paper presents the findings from a study that has used a two-dimensional hygrothermal simulation tool, hygIRC-2D, to assess moisture and energy performance of retrofitted masonry walls used in high-rise construction for both residential and commercial types of buildings at various Canadian locations. The results from the simulations indicate that, if heat, air and moisture transport properties of the materials and the airflow characteristics of the systems can be defined properly a hygrothermal simulation tool can be used to evaluate the moisture and thermal (i.e. energy) performance of various wall systems and associated retrofit options.

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