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Water vapor permeability and diffusion coefficient in air

Rafael Ramirez Alvarez de Lara

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Respected colleagues,

I am working with the Heat Transfer / Moisture Transport in Building Materials modules. Regarding the basic input material parameters, there are two options for the specification of the properties related to vapor diffusion:

· Vapor permeability, δp [s].

· Vapor resistance factor, μ [dimensionless], which is related to the previous one by δp=δ/μ, where δ [s] is the vapor permeability of still air.

In case we choose the second option, the vapor permeability of still air is automatically calculated by the software. However, I have not been able to find the expression that COMSOL uses to define it. Generally, δ is expressed through a formula of the form δ=Dv/(RT), where Dv [m^2/s] is the diffusion coefficient of water vapor in dry air at temperature T [K] and R is the gas constant of water vapor. Then, Dv responds to an empirical formulation and there are several expressions available in the literature.

I would like to know which expression is used by COMSOL for the definition of the vapor permeability of still air.

Thank you in advance for your help! Best regards, Rafael Ramirez


1 Reply Last Post Mar 13, 2020, 7:25 a.m. EDT
Rafael Ramirez Alvarez de Lara

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Posted: 4 years ago Mar 13, 2020, 7:25 a.m. EDT

Dear all,

Thanks to the support team, I have found out that it is possible to examine how the "mt.delta" variable is defined in the Equation View node under the Building Material node. Note that the Equation View should be enabled.

I hope this was useful for you as well.

Best regards, Rafael Ramírez

Dear all, Thanks to the support team, I have found out that it is possible to examine how the "mt.delta" variable is defined in the Equation View node under the Building Material node. Note that the Equation View should be enabled. I hope this was useful for you as well. Best regards, Rafael Ramírez

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