Moisture is one of the most deteriorating factors of buildings. Tracing it, using
non-destructive techniques, is an obvious advantage, especially for buildings in use.
The problem of moisture in buildings has always aroused great interest. Moisture
damage may occur both due to the presence of moisture itself and/or due to its
evaporation. Besides the degradation of materials and components, compromising
their performance, durability, mechanical resistance, waterproofness and appearance, it can also cause poor indoor conditions resulting from biological growth.
Moisture content is traditionally assessed using destructive procedures, which
require collecting a wall sample to be weighed in the laboratory. However, moisture
content can also be assessed using non-destructive techniques as moisture detectors.
These techniques may not be as accurate as the destructive procedures; however,
they are very easy to use and deliver real-time results. Infrared thermography
(IRT) is a non-contact and non-destructive testing technology that can be applied to
determine the surface temperature of an object. Nevertheless, the procedures to
detect moisture in building components using IRT are still under development as it
is not clear if it can be used to detect moisture before any visible marks occur.
However, changes in moisture content are related to changes in surface temperature
and can, therefore, be detected by IRT, due to three physical phenomena: evaporative cooling at the moist area; reduced thermal resistance; and increased heat
storage capacity of the moist material.
The main benefit of this book is that it provides a discussion about the opportunities and limitations of IRT to assess moisture-related pathologies in buildings using several practical models as example cases. Its special features are: (a) a state of the art of buildings-related IRT applications with the main focus on
moisture assessment; and (b) practical discussion of several case studies, namely
(b1) several set-ups and boundary conditions were created to compare IRT with
other surface temperature measurement techniques and to understand the ideal
conditions for accurate IRT; (b2) IRT was used to assess capillary absorption on a
full-scale laboratory model and the drying process; (b3) IRT was used to assess
moisture in walls due to wind-driven rain infiltrations in buildings in use; and (b4)
IRT was used to assess the drying process of exterior walls