Hygrothermal building simulation

Designing the house of the future with hygrothermal building simulation

The interaction between the building envelope and the interior determines the hygrothermal properties of a building. By considering all the boundary conditions, a detailed analysis can be made of the energy requirements, the room climate and the hygrothermal conditions inside the building envelope. Hygrothermal building simulation not only includes recording and evaluating by experiment parameters such as internal sources of heat and moisture, air exchange, measured and simulated weather data sets, but also user behavior with regard to desired settings or the effects of opening windows in different climate zones. Our experts use the knowledge gained in this way to develop and implement hygrothermal building simulation tools.

By monitoring the hygrothermal behavior of a building, they can develop solutions to avoid critical conditions, improve hygrothermal comfort and reduce energy consumption. Based on these measurements - both under real and laboratory conditions - as well as on theoretical interrelationships, our scientists design new models that, after validation, are implemented in WUFI^® Plus or WUFI^® Passive software.

By combining the simulation of hygrothermal components and the simulation of a building’s energy efficiency, we can develop integrated solutions that take into account the conditions both in the interior of a building and inside components, in particular the way they interact with one another. At the same time, we also consider the effects of different concepts on energy consumption. This not only enables us to develop adapted strategies for residential and office buildings, but also to recommend passive measures for stabilizing the climate inside historical buildings, for example.

Based on the existing simulation environment, we can quantify the impact of different climate zones, uses, component structures, geometries and orientations, as well as different building operation strategies on room climate, energy consumption and the absence of damage to the building envelope.

We advise and conduct research & develop in the following areas:

• Hygrothermal building monitoring
• Model development and validation by experiment
• Studies on hygrothermal building simulation
• Transfer of knowledge to practical applications
• Building concepts for new markets