Buildings Physical Impact of Heating Systems on Monumental Buildings and Their Interior

The building physical behaviour of some typical heating systems for churches has been investigated by simulation and has been validated by experimentation in situ. In a four-year study the most common church heating systems for large, massive monumental churches have been evaluated. This paper gives an overview of some of the results obtained for floor heating, local bank heating, hot air systems and gas infrared heating. Relative large airflows due to floor heating and local (bank) heating and thermal draught due to cold walls and glazing have been simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and have been compared with experiments. Contamination due to floor heating has been investigated numerically and experimentally. Hot air heating systems cause large temperature stratification and relative humidity drops and the thermal and hygric effects on monumental organs have been predicted by simulation and have been validated in the laboratory and in situ. The dramatic moisture source effect of 'open air' gas infrared systems on monumental buildings clearly has been predicted and has been proved experimentally. Further more thermal irradiance simulations and thermal and hygric modeling have predicted the thermal irradiance effects, resulting in the drying out of a monumental 16th century wooden pulpit.