An analytical method to calculate the coupled heat and moisture transfer in building materials

A dynamic model for evaluating the transient thermal and moisture transfer behavior in porous building materials was presented. Both heat and moisture transfer were simultaneously considered and their interactions were modeled. An analytical method has been proposed to calculate the coupled heat and moisture transfer process in building materials. The coupled system was first subjected to Laplace transformation, and then the equations were solved by introducing the Transfer Function Method. The transient temperature and moisture content distribution across the material can thus be easily obtained form the solutions. The results were compared with the experimental data and other analytical solutions available in the literature; a good agreement was obtained. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.