Hygrothermal performance analysis of wind barrier structures

The paper presents requirements for the airtightness of wind barriers and results of the hygrothermal analysis of wind barrier structures. The studied wind barrier structures were typical for small houses in Finland-timber-framed structures with lightweight glass wool thermal insulation. The air permeances and the parameter sensitivities were studied numerically both for ideal and nonideal structures. In ideal structures, the material layers were assumed to be tightly (ideally) connected to each other, but in nonideal structures, there were air leakage routes (air cracks) at the interphases of thermal insulation and adjacent material layers. The drying of moisture through different wind barriers was analyzed in laboratory experiments under boundary conditions similar to those in practice, e.g., with outdoor temperatures below and above 0°C.