A new tool for the drying time and the moisture risk estimation in concrete floors

Abstract

Moisture management in building site has improved significantly in recent years. However, problems with concrete floors are repeatedly found. One possible reason for the failure may be that the time required for adequate drying of the concrete has not been properly considered when scheduling the building process and because the pressure to complete the building, the floor covering has been installed too early. In building industry, there is a clear need for better understanding of the adequate drying times of concrete structures, as well as tools to make sufficient drying estimates. The new tool BY2020 provides a new approach to drying and moisture risk estimations. The simulation tool is a FEM-based model that allows change in geometry with time so that the material layers are automatically added into the model, based on the determined schedule. The boundary conditions are also changing with time based on the schedule. In addition, the water vapor resistance of the flooring material can be modelled to evaluate the long-term moisture behavior of the floor structure. Preliminary results are encouraging and the feedback on the new approach has been positive. Validation process is ongoing and target completion time for the tool is late 2020.