Moisture buffering effect of hygroscopic materials under wall moisture transfer

Abstract

Hygroscopic material can moderate the indoor humidity variation due to its moisture buffering effect. This effect would change when used as interior finish mainly due to air exchange and wall moisture transfer. The author focused on clarifying the extent of the wall'’s influence on indoor moisture buffering and building humidity environment. A room model was established and the situation of no wall moisture transfer was simulated by adding a vapour barrier between the interior finish and the wall. Comparing this result with wall moisture transfer, the moisture buffering effect of the wall can be quantitatively analysed. The results verify that the buffering effect and the humidity environment, especially the seasonal buffering, change with the wall moisture transfer. The wall has great impacts on buffering in the cases of thin interior finish, high moisture production and low ventilation. Because the layer under the hygroscopic material also has buffering capacity, the difference of using various thicknesses of material is not obvious. Frequent ventilation reduces the buffering effect but improves the RH optimality.