Comment on Cabrera et al. A User-Friendly Tool to Characterize the Moisture Transfer in Porous Building Materials: FLoW1D. Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 5090
Source abstract
Abstract
In July 2020, this journal published “A User-Friendly Tool to Characterize the Moisture Transfer in Porous Building Materials: FLoW1D”. That article presents and applies a forward-Euler-based tool, implemented in Visual Basic for Applications in Excel, for simulating moisture transfer in building materials. In that tool, the building materials’ hygric properties are described via the unimodal van Genuchten and Mualem equations. All parameters needed therein are inversely identified from only a capillary absorption experiment. These are three feats that, if valid, would strongly progress the state-of-the-art on moisture transfer simulation, hygric property description, and hygric property characterisation. This critique voices severe doubts, however, about the applicability of FLoW1D, the adequacy of the van Genuchten-Mualem equations, and (most fundamentally) the uniqueness of the inverse characterisation.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Hygrothermal properties of building materials · Urban Heat Island Mitigation · Building Energy and Comfort Optimization
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
KU Leuven, Department of Civil Engineering, Building Physics and Sustainable Design, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Funding
FWO Odysseus
References (22)
Show source-provided references
1. Cabrera, V., López-Vizcaíno, R., Yustres, Á., Ruiz, M.Á., Torrero, E., and Navarro, V. (2020). A user-friendly tool to characterize the moisture transfer in porous building materials: FLoW1D. Appl. Sci., 10.10.3390/app10155090 ↗
2. Closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400050002x ↗
3. Conservative modelling of the moisture and heat transfer in building components under atmospheric excitation10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2006.06.048 ↗
4. Simulation efficiency and accuracy of different moisture transfer potentials10.1080/19401493.2013.852246 ↗
5. Influence of the nature of interfaces on the capillary transport in layered materials10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.03.063 ↗
6. A whole range hygric material model: Modelling liquid and vapour transport properties in porous media10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2009.09.030 ↗
7. Hygric properties of porous building materials: Analysis of measurement repeatability and reproducibility10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.11.036 ↗
8. Hygric properties of porous building materials (VII): Full-range benchmark characterizations of three materials10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107727 ↗
9. Krus, M., and Kießl, K. (1991). An Experimental Comparison between Pore Size Distributions Obtained with Mercury Porosimetry and Pressure Extractors, Report FtB-11, Fraunhofer-Institut für Bauphysik.
10. Pore structure based determination of unsaturated hygric properties of porous materials10.1007/s11242-019-01334-7 ↗
11. Fluid flow in complex porous media: Experimental data and IFU model predictions for water vapour permeability10.1016/j.jngse.2016.08.053 ↗
12. Hygric properties of porous building materials (V): Comparison of different methods to determine moisture diffusivity10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.106344 ↗
13. Evaluating the protecting effects of two consolidants applied on Pietra di Lecce limestone: A neutronographic study10.1016/j.culher.2020.06.013 ↗
14. Inverse hygric property determination based on dynamic measurements and swarm-intelligence optimisers10.1016/j.buildenv.2017.12.030 ↗
15. Is stochastic grey-box modelling suited for physical properties estimation of building components from on-site measurements?10.1177/1744259116688384 ↗
16. Adaptive Kronrod-Patterson integration of non-linear finite element matrices10.1002/nme.2748 ↗
17. (2020, September 05). Delphin Website. Available online: http://bauklimatik-dresden.de/delphin/index.php?aLa=en.
18. Sensitivity analysis of CFD coupled non-isothermal heat and moisture modelling10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.05.011 ↗
19. Influence of uncertainty in heat–moisture transport properties on convective drying of porous materials by numerical modelling10.1016/j.cherd.2012.06.011 ↗
20. Validation of a coupled heat, vapour and liquid moisture transport model for porous materials implemented in CFD10.1016/j.buildenv.2014.06.024 ↗
21. A functional structure for state functions of moisture transfer in heritage building elements10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101201 ↗
22. Determination of the hygric properties of the heritage stone of the Cathedral of Cuenca through the water absorption by capillarity test10.1016/j.culher.2020.11.009 ↗