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Influence of climates and materials on the moisture buffering in office buildings: a comprehensive numerical study in China

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Abstract

In recent years, moisture buffering materials for interior finishing have received much attention for their ability to regulate indoor humidity passively. It is necessary to investigate the potential of such materials’ moisture buffering performance before application because the effect is highly climate and material dependent. However, existing studies in China lack a comprehensive overview of the moisture buffering potential of different interior finishing materials throughout the large country with a wide spectrum of climates. This paper aims to outline the moisture buffering potential for office buildings in various climates in China through numerical methods. Specifically, simulations in 15 representative Chinese cities are conducted with five interior finishing materials under two heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) scenarios. The results show that the moisture buffering materials hold a general potential to regulate indoor humidity conditions and reduce buildings’ HVAC load. Such benefits are evident in the mild climate but weak in humid areas. The moisture buffering effect also displays significant seasonal variations and could worsen indoor humidity conditions in some cases, indicating the importance of utilizing moisture buffering materials properly. In addition, although moisture buffering materials can reduce the HVAC load, the reduction is limited, within 3 kWh/m2, in most simulated cases. The energy-saving benefits of moisture buffering materials should thus not be over-emphasized. Finally, suggestions are put forward to instruct the choice of interior finishing material according to climate and buildings’ HVAC scenarios.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This study is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52178065, no. 51778358) and the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology (no. 2020ZB07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Jinzhong Fang, Bao-Jie He, Mingfang Tang & Chi Feng

  2. Key Laboratory of New Technology for Construction of Cities in Mountain Area, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Jinzhong Fang, Bao-Jie He, Mingfang Tang & Chi Feng

  3. School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Huibo Zhang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Peng Ren & Chi Feng

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  1. Jinzhong Fang
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  2. Huibo Zhang
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  3. Peng Ren
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Contributions

Jinzhong Fang: data curation, formal analysis, investigation, software, validation, visualization, and writing—original draft. Huibo Zhang: writing—review and editing and methodology. Peng Ren: writing—review and editing. Bao-Jie He: writing—review and editing and visualization. Mingfang Tang: writing—review and editing, formal analysis, and supervision. Chi Feng: conceptualization, funding acquisition, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Chi Feng.

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Fang, J., Zhang, H., Ren, P. et al. Influence of climates and materials on the moisture buffering in office buildings: a comprehensive numerical study in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 14158–14175 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16684-3

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