Evaluation of mould growth risks due to air leakage through air cavity of the building walls

School of Architecture, Southeast University, 210000 Nanjing, China

^* Corresponding author: hokoi@seu.edu.cn

Abstract

Mould growth causes damage and poses high risk to a large number of existing buildings and their users. Air leakage through air cavity of the building walls, such as gaps between walls and some pipes penetrating the walls, produces obvious hygrothermal exchange, altering the temperature and humidity distribution of the walls. It would promote condensation and mould growth. Air cavity are common on the walls of existing buildings. In order to make a quantitative analysis on the mould growth risks due to air leakage through air cavity, an office room in an existing building in Nanjing, China was selected and hygrothermometers were arranged indoor and outdoor for monitoring. The measured results showed the room was in high temperature and relative humidity from June to early September. Two-dimensional hygrothermal simulation was made to investigate the hygrothermal conditions of the walls with air cavity, using the measured data as boundary conditions and validation for the numerical simulation. Mould growth risks under these situations were estimated.