Physical and mathematical models of coupled heat and moisture transport: A comparative analysis

Several physical and mathematical models of coupled heat and moisture transport in porous building materials are analyzed from the points of view of physical exactness and availability of input parameters. Among them, Kunzel's and Grunewald's models are chosen as representatives of diffusion models, convective models are represented by Milly's model. A typical example of computational simulation of temperature and moisture fields using the mentioned models is performed for a chosen multi-layered building envelope, and the strong and weak points of the applied models are assessed. Both the theoretical issues and results of practical application are discussed.