Grants and Contributions:

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

It is very important to investigate the condensation potential on building indoor surfaces since the moisturex000D
condensation can have an impact on building energy uses, building envelope durability and occupants' healthx000D
risks associated with mold growth. The surface temperature of the in-slab duct's embedding concrete slab canx000D
be affected by the inflow cold fresh air's temperature, flow rate and the running period of time as well as thex000D
in-slab duct size. Unfortunately, the performance of in-slab duct systems in various realistic environmentalx000D
conditions is not available in literature. The objectives of this proposed research project is to characterize thex000D
condensation potentials on the surface of the in-slab duct's embedding concrete slab under various indoor andx000D
outdoor design and operating conditions for a range of climatic conditions. To achieve this objective, a seriesx000D
of lab experiments to measure the temperature and the humidity on the surface of concrete slab with thex000D
embedded in-slab ducts wrapped with different levels of insulation. In this study, three duct insulation typesx000D
namely Tyvek, Reflectix, Bubble Wrap will be considered, and their relative performance in comparison withx000D
an in-slab duct with no insulation (reference case) will be investigated. The experiment will be conducted usingx000D
the BCIT Building Science Centre of Excellence's Building Envelope Test Facility (BETF). In the experimentalx000D
study, four pieces of 200 mm thick rectangle shaped concrete slabs each of which embeds an in-slab ductx000D
coming with the same configuration but wrapped with different levels of insulation will be placed inside thex000D
BETF. Both upper and bottom surfaces of the concrete slab will be exposed to the same indoor conditionsx000D
provided by the air conditioning systems in BETF, which will be set at indoor design conditions (i.e. 21°C,x000D
30% RH). The edge of the concrete slab at the outside fresh air intake side will be exposed to outdoor climaticx000D
conditions. The rest of the edges of the concrete slab will be insulated in order to minimize the undesired heatx000D
transfer between the indoor environment and the slab. The measured humidity and temperature at upper andx000D
bottom surfaces of the concrete slab will be used to evaluate the condensation potential of the alternative