Quantifying the Influence of Hygroscopic Materials in the Fluctuation of Relative Humidity in Museums Housed in Old Buildings

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2014

Authors

Cláudia Ferreira (Author) FEUP; Vasco Peixoto de Freitas (Author) FEUP; Nuno M. M. Ramos (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: 10th NSB

Pages: 600-607

10th Nordic Symposium on Building Physics

Lund City Centre, Sweden, June 15-19, 2014

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Civil engineering

CORDIS: Technological sciences > Engineering > Civil engineering

Other information

Abstract (EN): The preservation of artifacts in museum collections is profoundly affected by fluctuations in temperature and, especially, relative humidity. Since the late 19th century, many studies have been carried out into the best way to control hygrothermal conditions. Today, however, the focus is less upon visitors’ comfort than upon ensuring the stability of relative humidity. In old buildings located in temperate climate zones with strong thermal inertia, and which have low ventilation rate (relative to the volume and number of visitors), daily and seasonal hygroscopic inertia may help to assure the maintenance of RH stabilization conditions. That is to say, active systems may be dispensed with if the buildings’ passive behaviour is used to best advantage. This paper presents the validation of an advanced hygrothermal model by comparing numerical and experimental results of RH fluctuation in the reserves of a museum housed in an old building, located in Porto. The quantification of the influence of hygroscopic materials with different characteristics in stabilizing the relative humidity when ventilation flows are reduced is also presented.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8