ABSTRACT
Moisture plays an important role in building performance, especially the performance of building envelopes, and moisture should be taken into account in the simulation of the behavior of buildings and building components. The deterioration of building structures due to moisture often begins in regions where the building exposure to wind-driven rain (WDR) impingement is the highest. This chapter presents recent developments in WDR simulation. WDR is one of the most important moisture sources in the built environment and constitutes a significant part of the external moisture load, thus it should be considered as a boundary condition in heat and moisture transport models for the building envelopes. The chapter deals with the selection of the meteorological data to be used when simulating the hygrothermal performance of wall assemblies. It discusses the hygrothermal simulation and the evaluation of the risk of wood decay and of freeze-thaw damage in envelope assembly.
