UNDERGROUND AIR DUCT TO CONTROL RISING MOISTURE IN HISTORIC BUILDINGS: IMPROVED DESIGN AND ITS DRYING EFFICIENCY

Abstract

The underground air ducts along peripheral walls of a building are a remediation method, which principle is to enable an air flow along the moist building structure’s surface to allow a sufficient evaporation of moisture from the structure. This measure reduces the water transport (rising moisture) into the higher parts of the wall where the high water content in masonry is undesirable. Presently, underground air ducts are designed as masonry structures, which durability in contact with ground moisture is limited. The article describes a new design of an underground air duct, which is based on specially shaped concrete blocks (without wet processes, because the blocks are completely precast). The air duct from concrete blocks is situated completely below the ground surface (exterior) or below the floor (interior). Thanks to this, the system is invisible and does not disturb the authentic look of rehabilitated historic buildings. The efficiency of the air duct technical solution was verified by the results of tests (based on the measured moisture values) conducted on a laboratory model. The experimental study showed that the moisture in the masonry equipped with the presented underground air duct had decreased considerably compared to the reference sample, namely by 43 % on average. The experimental study was numerically validated through numerical simulations performed with the program WUFI 2D.