Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Interior Moisture Buffering

The significance of interior humidity in attaining sustainable, durable, healthy and comfortable buildings is increasingly recognised. Any interior humidity evaluation requires a qualitative and/or quantitative assessment of interior moisture buffering. This paper introduces the production-adaptive characterisation of the moisture buffer potential of single elements and corroborates their superposition toward a room-enclosure moisture buffer potential. It is verified that this allows qualitative comparison of enclosures in relation to interior moisture buffering. It is moreover demonstrated that it forms an alternative basis for quantitative evaluation of interior moisture buffering by the effective moisture penetration depth and effective capacitance models. The presented methodology uses simple and fast measurements only, and can also be applied to multimaterial and/or multidimensional interior elements. The in-situ determination of this buffer potential is presented in a complementary paper.