Effect of temperature and relative humidity on algae biofouling on different fired brick surfaces

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of environmental temperature and relative humidity on algae biofouling that often occurs on porous and rough fired brick surfaces. Brick samples were chosen since their common use on building facades. Accelerated growth tests were performed under different relative humidities and different temperatures. Results showed the effects of different temperature conditions in terms of algae growth delay and reduction of the covered area. All the relative humidity conditions tested substantially showed no growth from an engineering standpoint. The modified Avrami's law succeeded in modelling the biofouling under the different environmental conditions. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.