ABSTRACT
The durability of building envelope systems depends first on their capacity to stay dry and secondly, if susceptible to water penetration, on their capacity to dry. Based on the wetting and drying characteristics of a previous study of this research group, an experimental investigation was designed to study the drying capacity of wall panels of different configurations. The setup consists of a two-story test hut erected within a large scale test chamber to investigate the drying capacity of 31 different envelope configurations. Each assembly is 2,477 mm (8′-1 ½″) high and 762 mm (2 ½′) wide and is instrumented with: 12 pairs of moisture content pins to measure the moisture content in 12 preset locations; 18 thermocouples; and 25 gravimetric samples to measure the change in moisture content. The experimental setup is described and the initial results on the evaporation rates of 9 wall panels and moisture content profiles on 4 panels are included and discussed in this paper.
