Moisture on Advanced level

  1. Moisture in air. Vapour content and vapour pressure, RH, dew point, effect of air pressure on RH.
  2. Moisture in materials. Definitions, concepts.
  3. Moisture fixation. Adsorption. Specific surface area, BET theory, the Dent equation.
  4. Moisture fixation. Capillary condensation. Pore sizes, meniscii, Laplace’ equation, the Kelvin equation, Kelvin radius, hysteresis.
  5. The Sorption isotherm and the suction curve. Methods for determining sorption isotherms and suction curves. Examples for different materials.
  6. Consequences of the sorption isotherm. Moisture capacity, equilibrium between materials, equilibrium between air and a material, effect of temperature changes.
  7. Prediction of a sorption isotherm from a pore size distribution.
  8. Moisture transport in materials. Moisture transport mechanisms: vapour diffusion, liquid flow, sorbed water transport. Mathematical descriptions of moisture transport; isothermal and non-isothermal moisture transport.
  9. Moisture transport in materials. Methods for determining moisture transport properties. Examples for different materials. Relationships between moisture transport coefficients.
  10. Steady-state moisture distributions in materials and material combinations. The Glaser method and its limitations. Techniques for moisture dependent moisture transport coefficients and resistances.
  11. Non-steady state moisture distributions. A qualitative tool for moisture changes. Analytical methods. Numerical methods; manual and computerized.
  12. Software for moisture calculations. Limitations and advantages.
  13. Boundary conditions. Air temperature and humidity,  solar and long-wave radiation, wind, rain and driving rain, soil moisture.
  14. Moisture conditions in building components and structures. Ventilated and non-ventilated structures. Roofs, walls, slab-on-grade, baement floors and walls, crawl spaces, floor slabs, outdoor structures.
  15. Critical moisture conditions. Moisture depedenciy of material properties, swelling/shrinkage, non-saturated transport processes, deterioration (corrosion, reinforcement corrosion, frost, ASR, etc.), mould growth, root decay, emissions.

 

Such a course will require at least 5-10 full days of lectures, depending on the level of ambition. Each topic can be examplified by exercises, possibly as homework.