Hygric properties of porous building materials (VI): A round robin campaign

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Chi Feng - , KU Leuven (Author)
  • Ana Sofia Guimarães - , University of Porto (Author)
  • Nuno Ramos - , University of Porto (Author)
  • Lixin Sun - , China Academy of Building Research (Author)
  • Dariusz Gawin - , Lodz University of Technology (Author)
  • Piotr Konca - , Lodz University of Technology (Author)
  • Christopher Hall - , University of Edinburgh (Author)
  • Jianhua Zhao - , Chair of Building Physics (Author)
  • Hauke Hirsch - , Chair of Building Physics (Author)
  • John Grunewald - , Chair of Building Physics (Author)
  • Maria Fredriksson - , Lund University (Author)
  • Kurt Kielsgaard Hansen - , Technical University of Denmark (Author)
  • Zbyšek Pavlík - , Czech Technical University in Prague (Author)
  • Andrea Hamilton - , University of Strathclyde (Author)
  • Hans Janssen - , KU Leuven (Author)

Abstract

Hygric properties of porous building materials are important for hygrothermal analysis. Their experimental determination is however not always reliable, shown by the discrepant results from different laboratories on the same materials. In this study, a recent round robin campaign initiated by KU Leuven (Belgium) and participated in by eight institutes from different countries is reported. Ceramic brick was selected as the target material. The bulk density and open porosity from vacuum saturation tests, the capillary absorption coefficient and capillary moisture content from capillary absorption tests, and the vapor permeability from cup tests were measured. Results were analyzed statistically and compared with a previous round robin project, EC HAMSTAD. The reproducibility errors for determining the capillary absorption coefficient were noticeably reduced when compared with the EC HAMSTAD project, and the different laboratories in the present study obtained similar results from vacuum saturation tests and capillary absorption tests without a common protocol. For cup tests, large inter-laboratory discrepancies still exist. However, with a stringent common protocol different laboratories achieved consistent results. For all properties a common protocol did not change the average results of all laboratories.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number107242
Number of pages14
JournalBuilding and environment
Volume185
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85091899298
ORCID /0000-0001-6961-2812/work/142246968

Keywords

Keywords

  • Capillary absorption, Hygric property, Porous building material, Round robin, Vacuum saturation, Vapor diffusion

Library keywords