Moisture Accumulation in Insulated Walls in Cold Regions
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 3, Issue 2
Abstract
A study to determine the amount of moisture that has accumulated in insulation systems in structures in cold regions is described and the data analyzed. The study region is interior Alaska. Moisture contents are found to be relatively low as an overall average (less that 2% by volume), but many individual structures have enough moisture in their insulation to raise the heat loss from the structure by as much as 300%. Moisture content is compared for north‐ and south‐facing walls and found to be approximately the same in both directions. Moisture content is also found to be independent of the location on the wall and the age of the structure. The effect of summer drying is also assessed and discussed. A significant summer drying effect was found, which reduced the moisture in the wall by 32–82% for some structures in this location.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Ansoult, M., DeBacker, L. W., and Declercq, M. (1985). “Statistical relationship between apparent dielectric constant and water content in porous media.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 49, 47–50.
2.
ASHRAE. (1985). Handbook of fundamentals. American Society for Heating, Refrigerating, and Air‐Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, Ga., 21.3–21.7
3.
Dechow, F. J., and Epstein, K. A. (1979). “Laboratory and field investigations of moisture absorption and its effect on thermal performance on various insulations.” Special Technical Publication 660, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, Pa.
4.
Hartman, C. W., and Johnson, P. R. (1978). Environmental atlas of Alaska. Institute of Water Resources, University of Alaska—Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska.
5.
Joy, F. A. (1959). “Thermal conductivity of insulations containing moisture.” Special Technical Publication No. 217, ASTM, Philadelphia, Pa., 65–80.
6.
McFadden, T. (1988). “Thermal performance degradation of wet insulations in cold regions.” J. Cold Regions Engrg., ASCE, 2(1), 25–34.
7.
Patterson, D. E., and Smith, M. W. (1980). “The use of time domain reflectometry for the measurement of unfrozen water content in frozen soils.” Cold Regions Science and Technology, Vol. 3, Elseveir Scientific Publications, Co., Amsterdam, Netherlands, 205–210.
8.
Stein, J., and Kane, D. L. (1983). “Monitoring the unfrozen water content of soil and snow using time domain reflectometry.” Water Resour. Res., 19(6).
9.
Tobiasson, W., and Ricard, J. (1979). “Moisture gain and its thermal consequence for common roof insulations.” Proc., Fifth Conf. on Roofing Tech., U.S. Army, 4–16.
10.
Topp, G. C., and Davis, J. L. (1985). “Measurement of soil water content using time domain reflectometry (TDR): A field evaluation.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 49, 19–24.
11.
Woodbury, K., and Thomas, W. (1985). “Effective thermal conductivity of a moisture laden glass fiber insulation matrix.” Proc. Nat. Heat Transfer Conf., Paper No. 85‐HT‐70, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, N.Y., 1–5.
12.
Wandover, G. (1988). “The use of time domain reflectometry to determine the unfrozen moisture content of various insulations,” thesis presented to the University of Alaska—Fairbanks, at Fairbanks, Alaska, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 3 • Issue 2 • June 1989
Pages: 73 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 ASCE.
History
Published online: Jun 1, 1989
Published in print: Jun 1989
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.