Combined use of wind-driven rain load and potential evaporation to evaluate moisture damage risk: Case study on the parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada
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Date
2021-10
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Parts of the building envelope that frequently receive high amounts of rain are usually exposed to a higher risk of deterioration due to moisture. Determination of such locations can thus help with the assessment of moisture-induced damage risks. This study performs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of wind-driven rain (WDR) on the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Canada. Long-term time-varying wetting load due to WDR and potential evaporation are considered according to several years of meteorological data, and this cumulative assessment is proposed as a fast method to identify critical locations and periods. The results show that, on the Center Block of the Parliament buildings, the façades of lower towers facing east are the most exposed to WDR, together with the corners of the main tower. Periods of high WDR wetting load larger than the potential evaporation are observed, indicating that deposited rain may lead to moisture accumulation in the envelope. During these critical periods of up to several months, air temperature may repeatedly drop below freezing point, which poses a risk of freeze–thaw damage. First assessment on future freeze–thaw damage risks indicates an increase in such risks at moderate increases in temperature, but a lower risk is found for larger increases in temperature.
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published
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Journal / series
Volume
11 (10)
Pages / Article No.
476
Publisher
MDPI
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Software
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Date collected
Date created
Subject
Wind-driven rain; Computational fluid dynamics; Potential evaporation; Climatic index; Durability; Degradation; Freeze-thaw damage
Organisational unit
03806 - Carmeliet, Jan / Carmeliet, Jan
Notes
Funding
169323 - Wind-driven rain impact of urban microclimate: wetting and drying processes in urban environment (SNF)
ETH-08 16-2 - Neighborhood-Resolved Climate model for local heat island mitigation (ETHZ)
ETH-08 16-2 - Neighborhood-Resolved Climate model for local heat island mitigation (ETHZ)