A comparison of measured and simulated hygro-thermal performance indicators' values: The case of a retrofitted wall construction.

Abstract

The present contribution includes a case study regarding the reliability of a hygro-thermal simulation tool as applied to an existing wall construction. Measured data was used to define the model's initial conditions and to evaluate the validity of the simulation results. Efforts were made to study the impact of input assumptions pertaining to boundary conditions and component's geometry representation (one versus two-dimensional) on the simulation accuracy. The results displayed a noticeable improvement of the simulations' predictive potency by adjusting the input variables based on measurements. Moreover, a more detailed representation of the component's geometry contributed to more dependable simulation results.