Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Conservation of our existing building stock is becoming a more significant portion of architecture andx000D
engineering practice in Canada. Heritage masonry buildings whether stone or brick, have proven to have beenx000D
durable in Canadian climates surviving over 100 years or more. A weak point of these walls is that they arex000D
considered to have poor energy performance compared to modern code standards. When considering thermalx000D
comfort and the desire to reduce energy consumption, there is often consideration to installing thermalx000D
insulation along interior face of walls during a retrofit/rehabilitation scenario. This is known to have a negativex000D
effect on the durability of the wall leaving exposed to colder and wetter interstitial conditions and prone tox000D
freeze-thaw and other moisture-related damages [1]. The questions that follow are; how far can a masonry wallx000D
be pushed before the risk of moisture damage becomes unacceptable? And how do you quantify or determinex000D
this risk?x000D
The industry problem is to develop a workflow which effectively combines hygrothermal and energy modellingx000D
software to analyze the hygrothermal performance of wall assemblies; while at the same time includingx000D
consideration of the simultaneous effects of mechanical systems and interior conditions as a system. This workx000D
will help with the understanding of the current baseline condition of the walls; and help guide and justify theirx000D
design proposals.x000D
The underlying challenge is to develop a hybrid workflow for hygrothermal and energy modelling of heritagex000D
structures which effectively utilizes the capabilities of software programs such as WUFI and EnergyPlus. Forx000D
heritage structures, there are specific gaps in understanding and procedural workflow which need to bex000D
addressed. This new workflow seeks to build off of previously developed workflows for the analysis ofx000D
hygrothermal performance of walls in isolation, and add to it consideration of system level changes such asx000D
mechanical systems which will affect interior conditions.