Water vapour balance in a building – moisture exposure for timber structures

Authors

Gerhard Fink and Jochen Köhler

Abstract

It is a known fact that the surrounding climate, i.e. the airs relative humidity and temperature and the corresponding changes over time influence the load bearing behavior of timber structural elements. Every attempt to grasp the many different ways how wood and its mechanical properties interact with its surrounding climate take basis in the understanding of the special way timber desorbs and adsorbs water, i.e. how moisture equilibrium in wood is reached depending not only on the state of relative humidity and temperature but also on the corresponding time history of the climate.
In the present fact sheet models to describe how indoor and outdoor moisture and temperature variations may be described.

Published in/by

Proceedings of joint workshop TU0601 and E55, Ljubljana, Slovenia, September 21-22, 2009, pp. 85-90