Experimental Study of Thermal and Humidity Conditions in a Historic Wooden Building in Southern Poland

Abstract

This article presents experimental research on hygrothermal conditions in a historic wooden church in southern Poland. The scope of the research included the continuous monitoring of temperature and relative humidity in several measuring plots in different areas inside and outside of the church. We also continuously monitored the number of people attending services. This study presents a detailed analysis of the development of heat and humidity conditions within the church. A model of the object was developed, and a computational analysis of the risk of condensation of water vapor on the inner surface of the partitions was carried out. An analysis of the results showed a large variation in the temperature and humidity conditions in the church. The internal temperature ranged from −9.7 to 25.9 °C, and the relative humidity of the indoor air ranged from 45.6% to 91.6%. The test results showed that the temperature and humidity of the indoor air periodically exceeded the accepted values of thermal comfort for historic buildings. The analysis of the obtained research results showed that the humidity and humidity conditions in the church mainly depend on the climatic zone and the number of people participating in the services. Moreover, an analysis of the results showed no risk of condensation on the wooden partitions of the church, but it should be noted that the temperature of the partitions was subject to rapid fluctuations (from −8.0 to 24.6 °C), which may have a negative impact on these historic wooden objects.

Keywords

• hygrothermal conditions
• thermal comfort
• condensation of water vapor in partitions
• wooden buildings
• religious buildings