UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

SD211: CIVIL ENGINEERING MATERIALS I

INTRODUCTION TO
THE STRUCTURE
AND BEHAVIOUR
OF BUILDING MATERIALS
LECTURE No. 3

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Water Vapour Permeability

 At any given temperature below

100oC air can absorb only a
certain maximum amount of
water vapour;
 If more water is available than
the air can hold, then the extra
amount condenses as water.
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Relative Humidity (RH) of air:

 RH = (amount of water vapour available in air)/

(maximum amount of water vapour
possible at the given temperature)

= (water vapour partial pressure in air)/

saturation water vapour pressure)

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 When there is a difference in water
vapour pressure on 2 faces of a
material, water vapour flows from the
face with the higher pressure to the one
with the lower pressure.
 And inversely proportional to:
 The amount of water vapour, mw,
flowing through a material is directly
proportional to:
 Pressure difference, ∆pw
 Area, A, of the face of the material
 Time, t

And inversely proportional to:

 Thickness, d, of the material 4
mw = δ x (∆p x A x t)/d
Where:

 δ [kg.m/N.h] - constant of proportionality,

which is called the “WATER
VAPOUR PERMEABILITY”
 mw [kg] - amount of water vapour
 p [N/m2] - vapour pressure
 A [m2] - area of face of material
 d [m] - thickness of material
 t [hours] - time

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 Determination of water vapour
permeability

 The adsorbent increases in weight, thus

indicating water vapour flow through a sample
of given thickness and surface area, within a
given time.
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 Water Vapour Resistivity, µ:
This is a dimensionless quantity
which indicates how much more
the resistance of a material is to
water vapour permeability in
comparison with an air layer of the
same thickness.
 µ gives the resistance of a material
to water vapour permeability.

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 Water vapourermeability/resistivity
of various materials

material Water vapour Water vapour

permeability, δ resistivity, µ
[kgm/Nh) x 10-10] [-]
Concrete grade 15 150 – 450 15 – 50
Concrete grade 25 100 – 250 30 – 70
Concrete grade 35 50 – 150 50 – 150
Lightweight concrete 600 5 – 10
Brick masonry 700 5 – 10
Lime plaster 600 5 – 10
Cement-lime plaster 300 10 – 20
Plastics - 25 – 330

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 Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC)
 All porous materials adapt their moisture content
to climatic conditions of their surroundings, i.e.
Relative Humidity and Temperature.

 This results in “Equilibrium Moisture Content”,

EMC.
 Definitions:
 Sorption: Equilibrium between moisture content of
the air and that of a material
 Adsorption: Increase of water in the material with
increasing Relative Humidity of air
 Desorption: Decrease of water in the material with
decreasing Relative Humidity of air

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Sorption of timber at 20oC

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 EMC is generally higher during a
desorption process
 EMC decreases with increasing
temperature
 EMC increases with increasing
Relative Humidity of air

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  EMC [%vol] for some common
materials

Material RH [%]
60 70 90 97 100
Normal concrete 1.2-1.6 1.5-1.8 1.7 - 2 2.5 - 3 3-4
Timber 7 - 11 8 - 13 10 - 21 15 - 28 25 - 32
Cement-sand blocks 2 -9 3-9 6 - 12 7 -11.5 6.4 - 13

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 1.5.5 Thermal Properties

 Quantity of Heat, Q; Heat Flow P. :

 Definitions:
 Quantity of Heat Q: Quantity of energy
appearing in the
form of heat; it is measured
in Joule.
 Rate of Heat Flow P: Quantity of heat flowing
per second; it is
measured in Watt. (1Watt
= 1J/sec)
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 Specific Heat, c [J/kg/K]
 Specific heat of a material is the
quantity of heat required to raise
the temperature of 1kg of the
material by 1K.
 Almost all practical civil engineering
materials have almost the same specific
heat of around 850J/kg/K at 20oC; steel
has 450J/kg/K.

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 Quantity of heat stored in a material
depends on its heat retention
capacity, called RETENTIVITY.
 Heat Retentivity = c.ρ (specific heat x density)
 Since the value c is nearly the same
for most materials, heat retentivity
increases with increasing density.

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 With increasing porosity,
retentivity decreases.
 Moisture content greatly
increases retentivity, since the
specific heat of water is very high
(4190 J/kg/K).

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 Thermal Conductivity
 Thermal conduction is a process
whereby heat is transferred through a
material from one end with higher
temperature to the other end with
lower temperature.
 In houses, materials with low thermal
conductivity are preferred, in order to
limit heat transmitted into the house
on a hot day, or loss of heat on a cold
day.
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 Thermal conductivity, λ, is the
quantity of heat passing per m2
through a layer of material 1m thick,
if the temperature difference
between the two faces is 1K.
 Thermal conductivity, λ, of a
material generally depends on its
porosity, (hence density). It is also
influenced by:
 Prevailing temperature
 Moisture content
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 Determination of thermal
conductivity of a material

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 P = Q/t = (λ x A x (T1 – T2))/d
hence:
λ = (P x d)/(A x ΔT)
 Where:
 P - quantity of heat flowing per second [W]
 A - surface area of sample [m2]
 d - thickness of sample [m]
 ΔT - temperature difference (T1 –T 2) [K]
 Q - Quantity of Energy [J]
 t - time [s]
 λ - thermal conductivity [W/mK]
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 Relationship between thermal
conductivity and density

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 Thermal conductivity of bricks as a
function of temperature and moisture
content

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 Relationship between thermal
conductivity and pore diameter

 Additional heat transfer takes place by convection,

which increases as pore diameter increases. 23
 A material is said to have good
insulating properties if:
 it has low thermal conductivity
 it has low water vapour
permeability

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 Thermal conductivities of various
materials
material λ [W/mK]
Foamed plastics 0.02 – 0.03
Timber (perpendicular to fibres) 0.15
Timber (parallel To fibres) 0.38
Burnt clay bricks 0.46 – 1.04
Sand/lime bricks 0.50 – 1.10
Lightweight concrete 0.29 – 1.16
Normal concrete 1.51 – 2.03
bitumen 0.20
Steel 50
Aluminium 200
copper 400
Air (at 20oC) 0.0257
Water (at 20oC) 0.597 25
1.5.6 Other physical
properties
 Acoustic properties
 Electric properties
 Behaviour with respect to light
 Fire resistance

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