Determination of Liquid Water Transfer Properties of Porous Building Materials and Development of Numerical Assessment Methods: Introduction to the EC HAMSTAD Project

Implications of moisture in building and construction are of interest to the international community because of their huge economical consequences, including effects on health, maintenance and repair, retrofitting and conservation, as well as on common welfare. The present day knowledge offers a potential to tackle such problems, both in the design process and during the service life of building. In 2001, the European Commission initiated the project "HAMSTAD" (Heat Air and Moisture Standards Development) to propose a better modelling methodology than the traditional Glaser method. HAMSTAD focused on the development of draft standardisation procedures on determination methods of moisture transfer properties and a draft methodology for certification of advanced moisture modelling codes. To stimulate competitiveness and progress, the project was carried out following an 'open methodology' instead of a system of deterministic and prescriptive (pre-) standards. This paper outlines the project and highlights the main outputs, serving as an introduction to the following more detailed research papers resulting from that work.