ITcon Vol. 16, pg. 601-616, http://www.itcon.org/2011/34

Network system for assessing the moisture and thermal behaviour of repaired concrete building facades

published:March 2011
editor(s):Turk Z
authors:Fahim Al-Neshawy, Lic.Sc. (Tech.),

Jukka Piironen, M.Sc. (Tech.),

Susanna Peltola, M.Sc. (Tech.),

Esko Sistonen, Acting Professor

Jari Puttonen, Professor
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, School of Engineering, Aalto University, Finland;
fahim.al-neshawy@aalto.fi or firstname.lastname@aalto.fi
summary:Moisture is one of the major factors in the physical deterioration processes of building facades.Physical deteriorations are typically caused by restrained moisture movements and freezing or are connected tochemical or biological attacks. Changes in moisture and temperature lead to the swelling and shrinking ofbuilding materials. Freezing of water in pores and cracks leads to an increase in volumes and causes scalingand spalling of materials. The continuous monitoring of temperature and relative humidity provides significantinformation about the long-term performance of buildings. Documenting the performance of repaired facadesthrough this monitoring can enhance our understanding of the long term deterioration of materials and thechanges in the structural behaviour due to aging.One objective of the research was to test the new possibilities offered by ICT (Information and CommunicationTechnology) in the real estate and construction sector. For that purpose, a new relative humidity and thermalmonitoring network system (RHT-MNS) was developed. The (RHT-MNS) is useful for assessing the performanceof repaired building facades. It also gives information about the physical functioning of facades.A field study for testing the RHT-MNS was carried out to monitor the temperature and relative humidity of afacade that was repaired by adding external mineral wool insulation and a rendering system (Sto AG, Sto ThermVario, Finexter Oy) consisting of 6 mm of rendering coat and glass fibre mesh. The monitoring was carried outat regular intervals of 15 minutes since the year 2004.The results of relative humidity and temperature monitoring provide an opportunity to have a close look at thehygrothermal performance of the building facade. The results show that the original facade structure is dryingafter adding the external wall insulation and rendering system.The RHT-MNS monitoring network system has proven to be a new successful method for monitoring the thermaland moisture conditions in repaired building facades. The RHT-MNS monitoring network system is also reliable,inexpensive, fast to assemble and easy use.
keywords:ICT, monitoring, thermal, moisture, repaired facades, concrete.
full text: (PDF file, 1.407 MB)
citation:Fahim Al-Neshawy, Jukka Piironen, Susanna Peltola, Esko Sistonen, Jari Puttonen (2011). Network system for assessing the moisture and thermal behaviour of repaired concrete building facades, ITcon Vol. 16, pg. 601-616, https://www.itcon.org/2011/34