Determination of the diffusion coefficient of new insulators composed of vegetable fibers

Abstract

The knowledge of the moisture transport of building materials is necessary for the performance of building structures. The control of moisture transport is essential to describe the moisture migration process through the building walls. The present work's aim is to determine through experiment the water diffusion coefficient of different insulators in unsteady-state based on the Fick's second law equation. This equation was solved analytically by the separation of variables method and by the change of variables method. The moisture diffusion coefficient for building material was experimentally predicted by using the weighing technique and different analytical methods. The results were compared with experimental data.