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MODIHMA 2018

Does electro-osmosis work in moisture damage prevention?

Applicability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution
under electric fields
Jacopo Melada , Marco Gargano , Ivan Veronese , Nicola Ludwig ∗
Department of Physics Aldo Pontremoli, State University of Milano, via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the recent years electro-osmosis drying devices applied to walls in both modern and historic masonry
Received 28 February 2018 has become one of the leading innovative techniques to prevent damages caused by capillary rising
Accepted 9 April 2018 water in building materials. Since the scientific community is raising many doubts on these techniques,
Available online xxx
the authors aim to propose a fast, simple, noninvasive and economic method to evaluate the dehumidifi-
cation process specimens of the most used building materials. The paper presents a procedure to monitor
Keywords: water content in different specimens of the most used building materials (e.g. brick, mortar and plas-
Electro-osmosis
ter) and verify any kind of possible effect of electro-osmosis on water diffusion, above all drying kinetic.
Masonry
Avalanche photo diode
The procedure is based on the measure of water content and drying behaviour with and without the
application of electrostatic fields with the traditional gravimetric method, infrared thermography and
optical reflectance in the 940–980 nm with a high sensitivity avalanche photodiode. This allowed us to
visualize the surface water content gradient of different building materials. Using different voltage val-
ues between tow electrodes coupled with the material under examination, we observed no variation in
water distribution inside the material nor any difference in evaporation phenomena. For strong electric
field values (V > 150 V/m), compared to those normally used in electro-osmosis dehumidification, we
measured mainly the heating caused by the Joule effect due to the intrinsic ion’s distribution inside the
material.
© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Many degradation phenomena affecting buildings materials like
freeze-thaw cycles [1], mechanical behaviour weakness [2] salt
decay processes [3,4], biodeterioration [5] and health problems
[6] are driven by the presence of water in porous materials. Mois-
ture can be conveyed inside building materials by many different
processes such as vapour condensation, direct exposure to meteo-
rological events, capillary rise, accidental leakage of conducts and
operating humidity. Rising damp is one of the main causes of wet-
ness in buildings and a widespread problem affecting both modern
and historical construction. It is related to the capillary suction
exerted by porous materials on groundwater and surface water that
slowly penetrate inside a wall. Capillary suction of groundwater
and rainfall percolation is much more efficient than condensa-
tion in causing dampness [7]. Its dynamics primarily depends on
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nicola.ludwig@unimi.it (N. Ludwig).
the thickness of the wall, the sorptivity of the materials and the
evaporation potential at the materials’ interface [8]. The absorp-
tion and transport of water inside a porous medium is a complex
mechanism, which involves multiple phases and various driving
processes [9]. Although many studies are carried out, the reliable
procedure for rising damp removal is still a problem. The scarce
knowledge of the involved mechanisms hinders the resolutions
procedures. Among the multitude of dehumidification and recon-
ditioning methods, the electro-osmotic treatments effectiveness is
controversial [10,11]. Electro-osmosis is successfully applied in the
consolidation of soils for many years [12–14] and in other fields
of study [15]. Despite its application on the dehumidification of
buildings is quite widespread and documented many doubts arises
in the scientific community, for example in [16]. In a recent study,
Franzoni pointed out one of the core problems in the study of dehu-
midification processes against rising damp: the need of an accurate
and quantitative evaluation of water presence in the materials and
the effectiveness of the treatments [17]. One parameter suited to
identify the amount of free water inside a porous material is the
moisture content (MC). It is defined as the percentage ratio between

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2018.04.009
1296-2074/© 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: J. Melada, et al., Does electro-osmosis work in moisture damage prevention? Appli-
cability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution under electric fields, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2017),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2018.04.009
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Table 1
Specimens used in trial 1.
Specimen Dimensions (cm) Dry density (g/cm3 )
T1 15.4 × 7.2 × 0.7 2.62
T2 15.4 × 7.2 × 0.7 2.64
P1 23.3 × 3 × 1.6 1.46
P2 19.5 × 3.3 × 1.9 1.41
the mass of water inside a material (mw ) and the mass of the dry
specimen (md ):
mw
MC = 100
md
Measuring the moisture content and moisture content distribu-
tion of building materials in the easiest, cheapest and least-invasive
way possible is indeed a fundamental key of the dehumidifica-
tion process and still an open challenge [18]. Uncontrolled factors
as non-homogeneous density, porosity, chemical reactions, sur-
face treatments and weathering, salts presence, mould and insect
damage affect many existing noninvasive methods, above all in his-
toric buildings [19]. The most accurate methodology is oven-dry
gravimetry that is an absolute, precise and repeatable measure nev-
ertheless it is invasive and destructive and this is a great problem
in culturally valuable constructions. The paper presents the study
on the effectiveness of electro-osmosis treatments monitoring the
drying behaviour of different laboratory specimens. This is achieved
by means of infrared thermography, gravimetry and an innova-
tive optical reflectance technique. Those methodologies allow us to
identify possible variations in moisture diffusion in presence and
absence of a direct current applied on the different specimens.
Electro-osmosis principles: Active electro-osmotic dehumidifi-
cation systems are based on the electrokinetic effects, caused by the
application of a direct current in a saturated porous system and the
resulting water migration processes inside pores and capillaries.
Helmholtz, Gouy-Chapman, Stern and Grahame theories [20,21]
explained that the electro-osmotic flow is due to the formation of
an electrical double-layer at the interface of the solid’s pore system
and the water solution (electrolyte). The electrical double-layer is
due to the spontaneous charging of a solid surface interacting with
an electrolytic solution. The solid surface influences all charged and
polar species in solution. Ions with a charge opposite to that of the
solid system (counter-ions) are attracted by the solid surface and
their concentration would be grater in proximity of the liquid-solid
interface. Ions with the same surface charge (co-ions) arranges con-
sequently far from the solid surface until a steady state condition
is reached. In masonries affected by rising damp, a spontaneous
electrical potential (streaming potential) is generated [22]. Ordi-
narily internal surface of pores and capillaries of building materials
is negative charged [23]. To obtain the potential difference between
wall and ground the electrodes are placed in both sides. Usually
inside the wall is installed the positive pole and in the ground the
negative pole. Under the application of an external electric field
the ions accumulated in the electrical double-layer tend to restore
the electro-neutrality of the system, moving towards the nega-
tive electrode dragging also the nearby ions and the coordinated
water molecules [24]. The resulting transport of water is related
to the intensity of the voltage gradient, to the properties of porous
material (i.e. geometry of the pores and capillaries, solid’s chemical
composition) and to the chemical composition of the water solution
itself [11]. Scientific community is doubtful about the reliable effec-
tiveness of those methods since the clear role of the electro-osmosis
in the dehumidification process of real buildings is controversial
and not well-documented [17].
Please cite this article in press as: J. Melada, et al., Does electro-osmosis work in moisture damage prevention? Appli-
cability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution under electric fields, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2017),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2018.04.009
Saturated density (g/cm3 ) MC at saturation (%)
2.72 3.96
2.76 4.69
1.79 22.72
1.74 22.82
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Trial 1
First step was the comparison between two ceramic tiles and
(1)
two cement-lime plaster specimens (Table 1), saturated with
deionized water. Measurement of MC, reflectance and infrared
thermography were done during the drying process inside a cli-
matic room for 53 hours. Two of the specimens are observed in an
electrical field and the other two far enough between insulating
media (cardboard and PVC). The experiment was conducted inside
a climatic room to ensure constant environmental condition, since
water migration processes are influenced by microclimate.
2.2. Gravimetry
Gravimetric water content was measured by means of a Kern
EW 1500-2 M balance with an accuracy of 0.01 g according to the
standard UNI 40/93. Moisture content (MC) and saturation grade
(SG) were calculated as follows:
m m − md
MC = 100 (2)
md
mm − md
SG = 100 (3)
mw,sat − md
mm is the mass of the specimen weighted at different moisture
content, md (wc,rel = 0%) is the dry mass and mw,sat (wc,rel = 100%) is
the saturated mass.
2.3. Infrared thermography
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a well-established technique,
which is used for years to qualitatively map the moisture accu-
mulated on and within building structures [25–28]. This approach
combines a non-contact, non-destructive testing technique with
excellent resolution over a wide range of temperatures due to the
optical nature of IRT. This tool is extremely useful because of the
rich information of the thermographic images, which allows to
localize the spatial distribution of wet areas. In fact, the temper-
ature of damp areas may be lower than that of dryer areas due
to surface evaporation, or the temperature may be higher due to
the higher thermal inertia of water compared to the dry building
materials. For this reason, qualitative tests are sometimes unreli-
able. In addition, IRT investigates only the amount of water within
a thin surface layer, and the technique can be used to rapidly survey
large surfaces, allowing repeated measurements through time. For
example, it is useful to monitor the phenomenon of water rising
from the ground. The near-infrared imaging has a similar approach
that allows to detect water in the bandwidth of 1000 nm to 2500 nm
to detect water due to its very strong absorption band at approxi-
mately 1940 nm and less intense at 970 nm, 1140 nm and 1450 nm.
It is interesting to measure evaporative flux to evaluate the effects
of moisture on degradation phenomena occurring in building struc-
tures [29]. This approach does not measure directly the moisture
content. Instead, it gives an estimation of the evaporative flux that
depends also on materials properties (firstly porosity and pore net-
work geometry) and environmental conditions. The possibility to
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perform high spatial resolution measure on large areas is another Table 2

Specimens used in trial 2.
important advantage of the optical reflectance approach.
The thermographic camera used in this work is an AVIO TVS-700 Specimen Dimensions Dry density Saturated MC at
microbolometer long-wave device. (cm) (g/cm3 ) density (g/cm3 ) saturation (%)

LT1 18.7 × 9.2 × 2 1.66 1.90 14.39

2.4. Optical reflectance LT2 18.3 × 8.5 × 2 1.75 2.01 14.41
MA1 16.4 × 10.4 × 2.4 1.41 1.66 17.88
MA2 19.2 × 10.5 × 2.4 1.41 1.65 16.55
In conservation studies [7,19,30], the detection of MC and/or MC1 19.7 × 8.8 × 2.3 1.60 1.99 24.57
surface wetness by noninvasive sensor is not a new problem, nor MC2 18.2 × 9.1 × 2.3 1.62 2.01 24.64
a resolved issue. Water selectively absorbs radiation in different CP1 19.9 × 9.8 × 1.8 1.62 1.93 19.13
ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum depending on its state [31] CP2 20.5 × 10.7 × 1.8 1.44 1.73 20.20
and temperature [32]. The presence of water greatly influences
spectral reflectance in the infrared region, especially in the major
water absorption bands [33]. Thus, it is possible to determine sur- mens were oven dried for one night at 102 ± 2 ◦ C to obtain the dry
face moisture content using an optical measure. The absorption weights (md ). Then they were placed in the climatic room at 25 ◦ C
bands of the liquid water derive from the hydrogen bond’s strength and 40% relative humidity, as in the previous experiment. Spec-
of water molecules, which are coordinated within each other in a imens saturations by capillary rising was monitored by IRT. The
structure that is neither rigid nor constant over time [34]. We select saturation occurs with a water solution 0.5 M of NaCl. After one
water absorption bands in the near-infrared region (800–2500 nm); night of imbibition the specimens were took out from the water
those bands are imputed to intra-molecular vibrational transitions. solution and weighted. Specimens LT1, MA1, MC1 and CP1 were
Liquid water in the near-infrared shows five predominant absorp- placed on an aluminium plate and a copper filament were put on
tion bands at 760 nm, 970 nm, 1190 nm, 1450 nm, 1940 nm [35]. top, both connected with a direct current (DC) generator. The alu-
Some other works indicate the absorption bands at 1450 nm, 1940 minium plate was negative charged meanwhile the copper wire
and 3000 nm [33,36] for the detection of water using near-infrared positive charged. The applied potential difference was 30 V/m. The
absorption characteristics. The selected band in this study is the one specimens LT2, MA2, MC2 and CP2 were placed in the same envi-
at 970 nm, attributed to a combination of symmetrical and asym- ronmental condition on a PVC plate far enough to be not affected by
metrical stretching of the molecules [37]. Indeed, one of the main the electric field. For six days the drying behaviour of the specimens
advantages working in this region of the spectrum is to use a Silicon was monitored by means of IRT, optical reflectance and gravimetry
solid-state detector, which is cheaper than the detectors working measures.
in longer wavelength. The methodology identifies the moist areas The authors designed and they 3D-printed a fiber-holder in
independently on the surface temperature in a noninvasive way. black polylactide (PLA) (Fig. 1). The fiber-holder has three holes
The development of an infrared remote sensing technique could for the accommodation of the optical fibers at −45◦ , 0◦ , 45◦ with
be useful in the diagnosis and monitoring of water diffusion in cul- respect to the normal. The base has a 6 cm diameter hole that forms
tural heritage materials, because most of the degradation processes a cylindrical black box allowing to host of the specimen and to per-
affect the surface. Another important advantage is the possibility form the measurements without saturate and damage the high
to perform a high spatial resolution survey on a large area, as in IRT. sensitive photodetector. The light spot area on the specimen is
Surface moisture content was measured with the help of a nonin- about 7 cm2 . The authors used the same light source of the pre-
vasive reflectance measurement device. It is based on a multi-pixel vious trial. The light was brought to the specimen with an optical
photon counting (MPPC) module by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., fiber at 45◦ with respect to the normal. A 0◦ fibre optics conveyed
model C11208, built with a matrix (1 mm × 1 mm) of Si Avalanche the reflected light to the detector through the 970 nm band-pass
Photo Diodes (APD) operating in Geiger mode. An Y-shaped optical filter. For the computation of the reflectance, the white reflectance
fiber conveys the light from the light source to the specimen and the
reflected light from the specimen to the detector. A band-pass fil-
ter with centre peak wavelength at 970 nm (Thorlabs GmbH) and
FWHM of 10 nm is placed at the entrance of the detector. This is
necessary for measure reflectance only in the water characteristic
absorption band at 970 nm. An incandescent bulb HL-2000-FHSA
is the light source. A white reflectance standard (spectralon, lab-
sphere) serves or the reflectance computation. A temperature (T)
and relative humidity (RH) data logger (EasyLog EL-USB-2) helps to
monitor the environmental conditions inside the climatic chamber.
Spectral reflectance factor (R%) was calculated as follows:
Cm − Cd
R% = 100 (4)
Cw − Cd
Cm are the photons counted by the detector at different moisture
content, Cd are the dark counts and Cw the counts on the reflectance
standard.

2.5. Trial 2

The authors prepared other 8 specimens for trial 2. The speci-

mens are two fragments of a brick (LT1 and LT2), two lime putty
mortars (MA1 and MA2), two cement-lime mortars (MC1 and MC2)
and two plasters with powdered bricks “cocciopesto” (CP1 and
CP2). The specimen’s properties are reported in Table 2. Speci-
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the optical measures setup. The 3D-printed
fiber-holder set to easily perform spatial measurements on the sample/specimen
surface under investigation.

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cability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution under electric fields, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2017),
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Fig. 2. Thermography of a cement plaster stick and a tile with and without static electric field respectively on left and right in (a) in saturated condition after 1 hour (40% RH
and 22 ◦ C). In this environmental condition they appear totally dry at the thermographic inspection after 48 hours (b).

Table 3
Optical reflectance (R%) values of the plasters and tiles specimens both at saturation and dry condition. Saturated specimens are darker than dry ones.

R%

P1 top P1 bottom P2 top P2 bottom T1 top T1 bottom T2 top T2 bottom

Dry 53.71 52.98 53.71 51.82 42.12 41.13 40.48 46.59

Saturated 34.38 38.16 30.26 37.88 38.03 37.72 38.31 36.08

standard (99% spectralon, labsphere) was used. Reflectance mea-
sures were performed on the top and on the bottom of the slabs to
detect moisture diffusions inhomogeneities.
3. Results
3.1. Trial 1
The first experimental trial on two ceramic tiles (T1 and T2)
and two plasters (P1 and P2) (Fig. 2) shows the thermographic
condition, reflectance (R%) and moisture content (MC) at satura-
tion and dry condition. In this trial, the climatic chamber mitigated
the RH variation meanwhile the temperature was the same of the
environment (about 22 ◦ C and 40% RH).
In the specimens of plaster the increase of the calculated
reflectance during drying is evident (Table 3). It is not so evident in
the ceramic tiles, probably because the commercial tiles were too
smooth, the water content was negligible or the fiber configuration
was not the correct one to detect reflectance on this type of mate-
rial. At t = 1 hour, the evaporative cooling of both material surface
is also evident and it is more pronounced on specimens without
the applied electric field. From the first trial, it is possible to single
out some different conditions notably on the tile in the left sides
of Fig. 2a. After the complete study shown below the authors sup-
posed that this effect was due to the thinness of the tile and to the
high heat capacity of the metal arm under it. This example would
underline the extreme sensitivity of the thermographic method in
detecting even very little thermal effects that can be confused with
electro-osmotic ones.
3.2. Trial 2
After the first trial, the experimental procedure was imple-
mented with a 3D-printed fiber-holder specifically designed that
maintains a constant angle of 45◦ between incident and reflected
light. This allows to avoid the contribution of specular reflectance.
In fact, at high moisture content the reflected radiation is spatially
heterogeneous and it presents a maximum value due to specular
contribution whereas this effect is negligible at lower moisture con-
tent [38]. The specimens used in this second trial are described in
Table 2. Saturation by capillary absorption went on 24 hours and
it was controlled by IRT (Fig. 3). During this trial the environmen-
tal conditions were regulated to maintain 40% RH and a constant
temperature of 25 ◦ C. Specimens were weighted twice a day and at
the same time R% was measured on the top and on the bottom of
each specimen; thermal images were taken every 15 minutes from
saturation to equilibrium condition at laboratory environment con-
ditions. SG values, obtained from eq. (2), are plotted against R% for
each type of material. The mean percentage error between each
material’s top and bottom surfaces is lower than 3% so the mean
R% values of each specimen are used.
Reflectance values change inversely proportional with respect
to MC in every type of the observed materials (Fig. 4). The determi-
nation of water content based on a single-band reflectance values
implies that for each type of material a dry reference reflectance
standard is available and representative. This could be a problem
in spatially heterogeneous materials. Due to the interesting results
obtained the measurement system could be improved in many
terms, one example regards the incorporation of multiple bands,
which generally makes regression models more robust against
covariates since absolute measurement values can be set in rela-
tion to each other [39]. For our purposes the feasibility of using the
absolute reflectance at 970 nm for a rapid, simple and economic
monitoring of the moisture content variation over time should be
more accurately investigated but the results are promising.
The specimens drying behaviour was characterized by
means of IRT and gravimetric method. Thermal gradient
(T= Tenvironment − Tspecimen ) was plotted against time. Drying
specimens had a temperature lower than the surrounding envi-
ronment of about 5 ◦ C due to evaporative cooling. As it is possible
to observe in Figs. 5 and 6 there are no evident differences
between specimens with the applied voltage neither between

Please cite this article in press as: J. Melada, et al., Does electro-osmosis work in moisture damage prevention? Appli-
cability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution under electric fields, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2017),
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Fig. 3. IR thermograms show the capillary saturation of four specimens: a: the beginning of the saturation process; b: after 4 hours different materials shown different
adsorption behaviour; c: the end of the imbibition step.

top nor bottom surfaces of each specimen. This would mean that
the presence of the applied voltage does not affect neither the
moisture displacement nor the drying kinetic of the specimens.
This statement is justified by the variation of MC during the time of
observation as well (see histograms in Fig. 5), which is comparable
for both the same material specimen in different context. In
the specific, LT1 and CP1 dried slower than the respective ones
without the applied voltage. In the meanwhile, MA1 and MC1
dried faster.
In the previous trails no interesting observation were carried
out, even with a static electric field 10 times stronger than the one
usually installed in the walls (2.8 V/m), accordingly to Mundula and
Tubi [23]. For this reason, the authors try to apply different voltage
to four specimens (LT1, MA1, MC1, CP1) saturated with the same
solution of the previous trials. The specimens were put in the cli-
matic chamber in a horizontal position (25 ◦ C and 95% RH) during
4 hours for each applied voltage. The authors wanted to observe the
direct current effect on saturated non evaporating porous speci-
mens. Before and after every test each specimen was weighted and
the MC calculated gravimetrically. At V = 0 V/m and V = 30 V/m
no thermal effects are visible by IRT whereas at V = 150 V/m a tem-
perature increase is evident close to the positive pole (Fig. 7). The
rising in temperature is due to Joule effect in the salts solution con-
tained in the specimens. Close to this electrode resistence should
be supposed higher than in the other parts of the specimens due to
the different electrolytes concentrations. Indeed the electrochem-
ical desalination of bricks, i.e. transport of ions by the application
of a direct current is documented [40]. The warmer areas in Fig. 7c

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cability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution under electric fields, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2017),
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Fig. 4. Correlation between reflectance @970 nm and relative moisture content in the specimens. Due to the uniformity of the reflected light at the top and bottom of each
specimen, the mean values were reported to have a simpler reading outcome.

display different shapes and temperatures depending on the charge
and the amount of ions. The third specimen in Fig. 7c shows heat-
ing process near both electrodes. We suppose that this effect, never
observed up to now, can be caused by the presence in this cement
mortar of both positive and negative independent fluxes. In order
to verify any displacement of water inside the specimens due to
the applied electric field we used thermographic method that was
prove to be the most sensitive to evaporative flux and connected
MC variation. Therefore, after four hours of applied voltage the RH
was suddenly dropped at 30% to observe the evaporation distribu-
tion over all the specimens surface. In fact if the electro-osmosis
worked and induced a moisture shift to one side of the specimen
we expected to observe a stronger evaporative cooling of the speci-
mens on one side accordingly to the electro-osmotic flow direction.
Anyway, during one hour of measurment no disomhogeneities in
evaporation cooling has been observed. The same effect can be
observed mantaining 95% RH and ventilating the climatic cham-
ber with a wind speed of 2 m/s. In this case the evaporative cooling
overlaps the heating effect homogeneously on the entire surface of
the specimens as well. This statement does not demonstrate that
an electro-osmotic water flow does not take place in the speci-
mens but somehow it highlights the predominance of the capillary
driven flow over the electro-osmotic ones, even with a high applied
voltage.
4. Conclusions
The research evaluated a system for the rapid, simple and nonin-
vasive measurement of the water content of a material that exploits
the different infrared radiation reflectance at 970 nm, in correspon-
dence of a liquid water absorption band in the NIR. This method,
directly related to the liquid water amount, can be easily coupled
with the steady method of passive thermography that indirectly
measures the moisture content through the measurement of the
evaporative flux. Both methods couldn’t be able to single out any
water displacement caused by the static electric field despite their
strong sensitivity of water content and flux evaporation values.
The present research included the investigation at a large range
of applied voltage. Finally, the results showed some effects due to
electrical current inside the specimens only for very strong field
when Joule effect arises and this occurs over the values usually
considered for building dehumidification and represent the upper
limits of the application of this technology. At the end, observing

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cability of infrared-based methods to verify water distribution under electric fields, Journal of Cultural Heritage (2017),
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Fig. 5. Evaporative cooling of the specimens (lines) and moisture content (bars) plotted versus the time of drying. On the left (grey bars) the sample drying is occurring in
the electrical field; on the right (green bars) the drying samples are out of the electric field: a: LT1 and LT2; b: CP1 and CP2; c: MA1 and MA2; d: MC1 and MC2.

Fig. 6. Thermography of the drying specimens inside the climatic room. On the left the four specimens with the applied voltage of V = 30 V/m; on the right the ones without.

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Fig. 7. Thermography of four specimens (LT1, MA1, MC1 and CP1) at 25 ◦ C and 95% RH at three different applied voltages: a: V = 0 V/m; b: V = 30 V/m; c: V = 150 V/m.
Some effects of electric field can be observed only with the strongest field. The heating clearly observed in (c) are due to Joule effect.
by IRT the electrical fields applied to masonry seem to affect only
ions current inside the saturated materials.
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