Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

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Journal of Building Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jobe

Modelling and numerical simulation of hygrothermal transfer through a T

building wall for locations subjected to outdoor conditions in Sub-Saharan
Africa
Merlin Simo-Tagnea,b,*, Macmanus Chinenye Ndukwuc, Yann Rogaumed
a
LERMaB, ENSTIB, 27 Rue Philippe Séguin, PO Box 1041, F-88051 Epinal, France
b
Academie de Nancy-Metz,54035, 2 Rue Philippe de Gueldres, 54000 Nancy, France
c
Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria
d
University of Lorraine, LERMaB, ENSTIB, 27 Rue Philippe Séguin, PO Box 1041, F-88051 Epinal, France

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: In the building sector, the improvement of the heat and mass insulation of the walls can reduce the values of the
Building materials global energy demand and the CO2 emission. A coupled one-dimensional heat and mass transfer model through a
Wood and concrete building wall was proposed in this study. The governing equations integrate the influences of Dufour and Soret
Heat mass transfer effects and are numerically resolved using FORTRAN 90 and finite difference method in Crank-Nicolson scheme.
Numerical simulation
Gauss-Seidel relaxation iteration method is used in order to generate the numerical solutions. The accuracy of
Sub-Saharan Africa
the model was evaluated with experimental data on wooden wall and concrete wall from literature. A very
satisfactory agreement is noted between the numerical predictions, experimental observations and physical
phenomenon obtained. The model was further used to simulate the hygrothermal transfer through five tropical
woods used as building walls in sub-Saharan African region after integration of outdoor conditions. These five
woods have densities ranging from 430 to 800 kg/m3 and the conditions of the interior air were fixed to maintain
a comfortable state for the occupants. Twelve towns located within latitudes 4.33°S to 12.37°N in Sub – Saharan
Africa were used to discuss the results given by the model. At the end, influences of anatomical direction,
tropical wood types, wall thickness, latitudes of the locations and solar radiation on evolutions of temperature
and moisture content in the wall are studied. Our results showed that these parameters have significant effects
on temperature and moisture content propagation within the wall. Using a wooden wall of 5 cm thickness, it is
possible to reduce significantly the effect of the exterior heat.

1. Introduction
Globally energy consumption has increased over the years due to
increase in population, increasing the level of industrialization, im-
provement in the quality of living and lower exploitation of the re-
newable energy resources. This is in previous contrast, prior to in-
dustrial revolution when energy usage is mainly for survival and food
needs [1,2]. Currently, the yearly increase in global energy demand has
neared 1.6% resulting to a 6% increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emis-
sion [1,2]. China and other economic emerging countries contributed
highly to this in contrast to European countries and USA which al-
though consume a lot of energy but with a lower increase in CO2
emission [1–3]. Therefore, looking at the increasing world population
and developmental pace of economic emerging countries, if the current
rate of energy consumption is maintained it will require four planets
such as the earth to satisfy the energy needs of the world in 2050 [3].
Globally, the major contributor to the total energy demand and CO2
emission is the building and construction sector. The sector contributes
about 36% of the global energy consumption with 39% CO2 emission
[4]. From 2010 to 2016, energy utilization in the building and con-
struction sector was equal to 5 EJ [4]. During this period, the green-
house gases emissions resulting from the building and construction
sector increased from 3.1 Gt CO2 to 3.7 Gt CO2 [4]. According to
ADEME [2], buildings in France alone utilizes 46% of final energy,
which is higher than energy utilization in the transport and industry
sectors. According to the IEA statistical report, the energy consumption
of the building sector in 2014, in countries like Cameroon, accounts for
nearly 70% of the total energy consumption and contributed over 17%
of CO2 emission [5]. In Cameroon major city like Douala, Air con-
ditioning is the main source of energy consumption in building with

*
Corresponding author. LERMaB, ENSTIB, 27 Rue Philippe Séguin, PO Box 1041, F-88051 Epinal, France.
E-mail addresses: Merlin.Simo-Tagne@ac-nancy-metz.fr, simotagne2002@yahoo.fr (M. Simo-Tagne).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.100901
Received 29 September 2018; Received in revised form 28 July 2019; Accepted 28 July 2019
Available online 29 July 2019
2352-7102/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
56% of total energy consumption [5]. Thus, it is imperative to reduce
the energy consumption globally in general and in the building and
construction sector in particular in order to have a good response to the
three main issues facing humanity which includes (1) energy crisis, (2)
climate change and (3) sustainable development. This response will aid
humanity to maintain the climate warming within 2 °C limit fixed by
the International Energy Agency (IEA) to have low warming climate
effects [4]. According to the IEA, due to the rising atmospheric tem-
perature, the global energy demand for cooling is growing rapidly and
as a result, the worldwide installed capacity of air conditioning systems
has increased from less than 4000 GW in 1990 to more than 11000 GW
in 2016 [6]. Therefore, there is the need to reduce considerably the
global energy consumption by developing low-energy buildings using
renewable energy resources and local building materials with the po-
tential of conserving energy usage to the comfort of occupants. The use
of renewable materials with low thermal conductivity such as wood in a
building is recommended in order to insulate the walls of the building
and limit the demand of cooling requirements in the tropics or the
heating requirements in temperate regions. Therefore, the European
Commission suggested that adopting good energy efficiency plan in the
building and construction sector can possibly reduce the energy con-
sumption by 20% in 2020, and by 40% in 2050 [1]. Accordingly, the
German Environment Ministry has targeted 42% potential reduction in
energy consumption by 2050 in the building sector, with 35% reduction
of greenhouse gases [7]. In another report by CEDEAO [8], it was es-
timated that the energy usage and greenhouse gases produced in the
building and construction sector by West African countries can possibly
be reduced through implementation of construction practices by
adopting appropriate building materials.
Studies have shown that the nature of the building envelop is a
major factor that naturally regulates the heating or cooling of a building
as the ambient weather conditions changes and this in effect determines
the amount of energy consumed by the building for heating or cooling
as the case may be [9,10]. For this reason, characterization of local
materials in the relation of weather conditions (air temperature, air
relative humidity, solar irradiation and moisture content of the mate-
rial) is recommended in order to add the knowledge on heat and mass
transfer through the building envelope every season. This character-
ization improves the design of the building walls in order to satisfy the
heating or cooling comfort of the occupants.
In many African countries, the most used local materials for build-
ings are laterite soil, sands, stones and clays with an average thermal
conductivity of about 1.15Wm−1K−1 [11]. Other materials used for the
building include red or black pozzolan with thermal conductivity range
0.135–0.166 Wm−1K−1 (for clusters with maximum diameter ag-
gregates ranged from 0.2 mm to 1.6 mm) [11]. However, compared to
other construction materials such as pozzolan, metal, glass, steel, mi-
neral wool and concrete, the thermal conductivity of wood is highly
dependent of its moisture content, temperature and species [12]. For
example, at 12% moisture content, the thermal conductivity of soft-
wood ranged from 0.1 to 1.4 Wm−1K−1 [12]. The literature search has
shown that more studies can be found on softwoods than hardwoods
species perhaps due to its wider industrial application or proximity of
its production in European countries where more laboratories have
studied its characteristics. This is in contrast to hardwoods species
produced mostly in tropical Africa and Latin America. Tropical Africa
has lots of forests dominated mostly by hardwood species. For long,
woods coming from these forests were exported to Asia and Europe as
construction materials [13].
Several research works existing in literature has examined the ap-
plication of timber (wood) in building and construction works.
Watchman et al. and Jafarian et al. [14,15] investigated the impact of
wooden spaces had on comfort levels by quantitatively and qualita-
tively comparing the thermal, acoustical, and visual parameters in the
wood and non-wood rooms and found small differences between the
temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentrations, and
2
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
background noise levels. Watchman et al. [15] also found a high dif-
ference between the two room types associated to visual comfort
parameters due to the location of windows, material colours and tex-
tures and the distance of the observer from the surface. Yuan et al. [16]
showed that CO2 emission through building walls can be reduced by
63% when insulation thickness located at the exterior of the walls is
increased in 32 regions of China. Poirier et al. [17] explored the po-
tential of natural light to enhance wooden interior environments and
found that sky cloudiness affects visual ambiances in interior wooden
spaces. Pajchrowski et al. [18] and Hildebrandt et al. [19] analysed and
assessed the potential environmental advantages of using wood in
construction of houses taken into account a full life cycle of the
buildings and found that wood as building materials has a positive
ecological effect because trees absorb CO2 gases that will be rejected to
the environment after use. Ramage et al. [20] presented a big-pictorial
view of the environmental impacts of using timber in construction, and
the choices that influence this. They confirm all the earlier mentioned
advantages of using wood and their derivative products as building
materials. They also suggested the importance of determining the
physical, chemical, mechanical and biological properties in the relation
to each wood material before it is used for construction.
Some researchers had developed prediction models for temperature
and humidity of indoor air for buildings using numerical and analytical
modelling technique [21–36]. Analytical modelling uses constant
thermophysical parameters (not dependence with moisture content and
temperature) and reduces the coupling phenomenon [33]. Some of
these models predicted the hygrothermal transfer through non-wooden
building walls [21–24,29–36] while others predicted hygrothermal
transfer through wooden building walls [25–28]. Most of these studies
utilized Buildingpore and WUFI software to predict hygrothermal
transfer through building envelope [27,28,and36]] by the use of en-
velope thermophysical properties and air conditions on each side of the
walls. Nevertheless, most of these studies have not focused on Sub-Sa-
haran African countries, which make data for this region very scarce.
Additionally, they did not consider the integration of the Soret and
Dufour effects. Literature is also scarce on the number of heat and mass
models that used the thermophysical parameters as a function of
moisture content and temperature of the wall on either sides of the wall
thickness. Available studies in buildings comfort in Sub-Saharan
African countries did not integrate the coupled heat mass transfer
through the building's envelope [37–43]. Again, most of this research
did not sufficiently study the influence of wall moisture content on
thermal comfort in the building because heat transfer through hygro-
scopic materials such as wood is highly influenced by its moisture
content. This is because the exterior of the wooden wall is exposed to
the meteorological conditions of its location while the interior wall
should be in equilibrium with interior air to maintained human com-
fort. Therefore, the focus of this study is (1) modelling and simulation of
hygrothermal transfer with integration of Dufour and Soret effects
through building walls located in some towns in Sub-Saharan Africa
after (2) validation of the model on wooden wall as well as on concrete
wall using experimental results taken from the literature, and (3) to
study the influences of tropical wood types on the heat and mass
transfer phenomenon using the thermophysical properties of the
building wall depending on the temperature and humidity. The wooden
walls simulated after validation of the model are made from doussié
(Afzelia spp.), frake (Terminalia Superba Engl. & Diels), obeche (Tri-
plochiton Scleroxylon K. Schum), iroko (Milicia excelsa) and moabi
(Baillonella toxisperma Pierre), tropical woods coming from Camer-
oonian forests. These five kinds of wood have densities ranged from 430
to 800 kg/m3 [44–47].
2. Geographical locations and ambient climate conditions
Geographically, Sub-Saharan Africa is located within 35°S to 25°N
of latitudes and 18°W to 53°E of longitudes as shown in Fig. 1. It has an
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 1. Yearly and daily totals global solar irradiation incident received on a horizontal plane of 1 square meter in Sub-Saharan Africa [49].
area of about 23000000 squares kilometers and cut across 48 countries
with a population of about 1.022 billion inhabitants in 2017 [48]. The
average ambient temperature for the most part of the year is about
21 °C. Fig. 1 shows that in 1994–2015 period, the total average daily
global horizontal solar irradiation ranged from 4.2 to 7.0 kWh/m2 with
a yearly totals value ranging from 1534 to 2556 kWh/m2 [49]. Coun-
tries lying between 10°S and 10°N latitudes has total daily global hor-
izontal solar irradiation range of 5–5.8 kWh/m2 presenting a humid
climate while those above 10°N latitudes and below 10°S latitudes have
total daily global horizontal solar irradiation from 5.8 to 7 kWh/m2,
presenting an arid climate. Additionally, countries near the equatorial
line and from 10°E to 15°E has total daily global horizontal solar irra-
diation around 4.2 kWh/m2, with the climate more humid. Compara-
tively, yearly global incident solar irradiations received on a horizontal
plane in Sub-Saharan Africa are higher than the one received in Eur-
opean countries (800–1800 kWh/m2).
Table 1 presents the geographical locations and average weather
conditions of 13 towns in Sub-Saharan Africa located from 4.27°S to
12.37°N latitudes and from 1.53°W to 18.56°E longitudes [50,51]. It
shows that when locations are far to the Equatorial line, average tem-
peratures are high and mean variations temperatures between the
maximum and minimum ambient air temperatures are high. A high
variation of ambient air relative humidity and speed is observed. Var-
iations of ambient air temperature and ambient air relative humidity
are not favourable to have a thermal comfort in houses in this region if
3
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
appropriate building materials are not used. Using the predicted mean
vote method (PMV), the predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) per-
mits to have a range of thermal comfort in a precise situation (activities
of occupants). Optimal thermal comfort sensation is obtained when
PMV is equal to zero [52]. In general, optimal thermal comfort is ob-
tained when indoor air characteristics are ranged from 30% to 70%
relative humidity, from 20 °C to 26 °C temperature, and from 0.13 m/s
to 0.4 m/s airflow [52,53].
3. Heat and mass transfer model
Heat and mass balances were first established for the wooden
building wall. This approach is used in the literature [22–36,54–56]. It
consists of two partial differential equations on heat and mass transfer
respectively. The model takes into account all types of water in the
wooden wall, the variation of properties with temperature and (or)
moisture content and the boundary conditions are taken with the in-
tegration of the type of flow (laminar or turbulent), temperature and
moisture content of the wall surface. Volume changes of the wooden
wall due to the temperature and water content change are neglected.
3.1. Mass balance
During the transfer, a great part of liquid water, bound water, and
vapour water are modified. Thus, the mass balance of the liquid water is
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Table 1
Geographical locations and average weather conditions (on 20 years) of thirteen main towns in Central Africa [50,51].
Towns Geographical locations Temperatures (°C) RH (%) Speed (m/s)

Lat(°) Long(°) Alt(m) Max Min Mean T Max Min Max Min

Bangui 4.36 N 18.56E 351 33.2 19.7 26.7 2.8 95 40 1.95 0.42
Benin City 6.34 N 5.62E 88 32.7 205 26 3 96 42 5.56 0.69
Brazzaville 4.27S 15.28E 284 32.2 19 25.5 4.6 95 60 3.47 1.25
Douala 4.05 N 9.71E 13 32 21.9 26.2 3 98 80 3.33 0.83
Kinshasa 4.33S 15.32E 281 31.1 17.7 26.9 4.4 90 60 5.56 1.39
Libreville 0.39 N 9.46E 8 31 23 26.3 2.8 98 75 4.45 1.95
Malabo 3.75 N 8.78E 40 30.9 21 25.3 1.7 98 70 8.33 1.00
Maroua 10.59 N 14.31E 403 39 18 28.3 6.9 95 10 6.95 0.28
Ndjamena 12.11 N 15.04E 299 40.9 13.8 28.1 9.7 90 10 4.45 1.81
Nkongsamba 4.95 N 9.94E 844 29.2 17.2 20.7 2.8 98 56 3.62 0.28
Ouagadougou 12.37 N 1.53W 299 39.1 16.1 28.2 7.7 95 10 5.56 1.95
Sao Tomé Island 0.44 N 6.7E 8 30.2 20.4 23.9 2.5 80 75 4.45 1.39
Yaoundé 3.87 N 11.52E 720 29.6 18.5 23.7 2 100 60 3.33 1.39

given by: 3.2. Heat balance

( S l)
+ . Jl = Kl The energy given by the exterior air is used to heat or cool wooden
t (1a)
wall structure (s), gas in the wall (g) and liquid water in the wall (l). A
Kl is the voluminal mass rate of the passage of the free water phase part of this energy is used to evaporate liquid water and destroy the
bond between wood structure and bound water. Thus, temporal var-
to vapour and Jl , the flux vector of the liquid phase. Mass balance of the
iation of voluminal heat in the wooden wall is given by:
bound water is given by:
T T T
(Xb S ) Cp + JT + Cp + V. T + Cp + V. T + Kl L
+ . Jas = K as t t t
t (1b) s g l

+ K as (L+ Eb) = 0 (6)

Jas and Kas are respectively the flux vector of the bound water phase
and the voluminal mass rate to the passage of bound water to free Vg , Vl and JT are respectively the kinetics of vapour, the kinetics of
water. The contribution of vapour is given by: the liquid phase and the flux vector of heat conduction in the wood. JT
is given by the relation (Fourier's law):
( (1 S ) g Cg )
+ . g Vg + Jg ) = K as + Kl
t (1c) JT = T (7a)
Supposing that:
is the flux characteristic of the movement of the vapour phase.
g Vg
The sum of Eq. (1a), Eq. (1b) and Eq. (1c) gives Eq. (2). ( Cp)l + ( Cp) g + ( Cp) = s Cp
s (7b)
( SH) Eq. (6) gives:
+ . ( g Vg + Jl + Jas + Jg ) = 0
t (2)
T
With [57–59]. s Cp T + Cp Vg + Cp Vl T + K as Eb + L + Kl
t g l
Jas = s DH H s DT T (3a) L=0 (8)

Cg According to Merakeb [57], the flux of gas gives:

g Vg = Jg
1 Cg (3b) Jg = K as + Kl (9a)
Suppose that:
kr
Jl = lk ( P Pc lg ) Xb H
µ (3c)
l
t t (9b)

Jg = Thus, the heat transfer equation gives:

g Dg Cg (3d)
T
Using all fluxes vector above, mass transfer equation gives: s Cp (DTT T + DTH H) = ( T)
(10)
t
H With:
. (DHH H + DHT T) = 0
t (4)
(Eb+L) g Dg Cg kr Pc
DTT = Eb l k
With: 1 Cg T µ l
T (11a)

lk kr Pc g Dg Cg (Eb+L) g Dg Cg kr Pc
DHH = DH + DTH = Eb l k
s µ l
H s (1 Cg ) H (5a) 1 Cg H µ l
H (11b)
Moisture movement and heat transfer were assumed one-dimen-
lk kr Pc g Dg Cg
DHT = DT + sional and the wooden wall is homogenous, thus the set of the coupled
s µ l
T s (1 Cg ) T (5b) transfer (Eqs. (4) and (10)) is given by:

4
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

preponderant. The mathematical conditions of this hypothesis give:

H
t
= x (D H
HH x + DHT
T
x )
H T
T
s Cp t = x (D H
TH x + ( + DTT)
T
x ) (12) s (Eb+L)DH
x
( + t s (Eb+L)DH )
x x=e
= h cint (T(e, t) Tai)

In using wood as material construction, free water is lower than (17a)

bound water, thus the variation of capillary pressure in a relation to
H T
moisture content and temperature is neglected. In addition, the varia- DH t DH = hmint (H(e, t) X eq (Tai, HR ai))
tion of the rate of vapour in the wooden material is assumed constant
x x x=e (17b)
and rate of vapour is proportional to the global mass diffusion of bound The outdoor face is continually in contact with exterior air. Energy
water and it is also used to transfer heat. used at wall outdoor boundary is due to convection energy, phase
g Dg Cg g Dg Cg Ea HR X eq change energy by evaporation and adsorbed solar energy. Heat and
= t s DH ; = s DH ; t = mass transfer is given by the gradients of temperature and humidity
1 Cg T 1 Cg H RT2 HR (13)
according to the following equations:
In each position in wall thickness, HR is given by Ref. [60]:
H T
HRint Pvsat (Tint)T s (Eb+L)DH ( + t s (Eb+L)DH) = h cext (Taext T(0,t))
HR = x x x= 0
Tint Pvsat (T) (14a)
+ Ggloi (18a)
Air humidity in the wooden wall is given using the following
equation: H T
DH t DH = hmext (X eq (Taext , HR aext) H(0, t))
0.622
x x x= 0 (18b)
y= Patm
1 (14b) Exterior heat transfer coefficient is given by Nusselt-Jürges and
HR . Pvsat
taken from Ref. [61]:
According to Ref. [59], the temperature gradient coefficient and
mass gradient coefficient favouring the mass flow and are given by: 5.67 + 3.86vext for vext < 5m / s
hcext =
6.47v 0.78 for vext 5m/s (19a)
DT = t DH (14c) ext

Thus, heat and mass transfer set is rewritten as: The Nusselt number used to have interior heat transfer coefficient is
taken from Ref. [62] and given by:
H
t
= x (D H
H x +
T
t DH x ) Nu = 0.0232Re0.8Pr 0.33 (19b)
T
s Cp t = x ( ( + t s (Eb+L)DH)
T
x
+
H
s (Eb+L)DH x ) (15)
By analogy, exterior mass transfer coefficient and interior mass
transfer coefficient are obtained using Sherwood number given by:
Sh = 0.0232R e 0.8Sc 0.33 (19c)
3.3. Initial conditions
Thus, exterior and interior mass transfer coefficients are given by:
T(x,0) = T0; H(x,0) = H 0 (16) Dg Sh
hmext/int =
Dhydro (19d)
3.4. Boundary conditions Interior heat transfer coefficient is given by:
air Nu
Fig. 2 presents a scheme of the wooden building wall. This wall hcint =
separates outdoor and indoor spaces. Indoor air is assumed in the range
Dhydro (19e)
of the thermal comfort of 24 °C air temperature and 65% air relative With:
humidity for Fig. 2. Outdoor air conditions were given by the weather
air D hydro Vext/int µ air
conditions of each town. Exit normal vector of the exterior wall is or- Re = ;Sc = ; Dhydro = h
iented geographical southwards. µ air air Dg (19f)
The indoor face of the wooden wall is continually in contact with Air thermophysical characteristics in boundary layers are obtained
indoor air. Only convection transfer with indoor air is assumed using mean values of temperatures between airflows and wall surfaces.
Xiaoshu [63] had shown that the surface heat and moisture transfer
coefficients have big effects on predicting heat and moisture behaviours
and had taken average values of hcext = 25Wm−2K−1 and
hmext = 0.003 m/s. In this study, all heat and mass convective transfer
coefficients vary in function environment climate and near previous
coefficients. According to Djongyang et al. [33], the density of the heat
flux exchanged through the plane geometry building wall can be
evaluated by:
T(0) T(e)
Q flux = 1 e 1
hcext
+ + hcint (20)

4. Method of resolution of heat and mass equations

The set of equations in wall building was solved using FORTRAN 90

language and finite difference method to discretize our equations. This
Fig. 2. Scheme of the building wall. method gives more satisfaction in literature and is unconditionally

5
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

stable, for example [64]. Soret effects on mass transfer have not been x2
j k+1
s Cp ( + t s (Eb+L)DH ) t
neglected. Temperature dependence on sorption of the wooden wall by A1ij = ; A2 ij
s Cp x2 + ( + t s (Eb+L)DH ) t
the use of the sorption obtained experimentally. Temperature Tij and i
moisture content Hij in the grip domain {(iΔx, jΔt); i = 1, …, 2 N; j = 0, j k+1
( + t s (Eb+L)DH) t
1, …, M} are obtained using finite difference method in Crank-Nicolson = ; B1ij
scheme. The set of equations in wall building was solved using Gauss- 2( s Cp x2 + ( + t s (Eb+L)DH) t)
i
Seidel relaxation iteration method. These two methods give more sa- j k+1
x 2 DH t
tisfactions in literature [65]. This is an implicit forward-time centered- =
space method where subscripts denote location in space and super- x 2 + DH t i (23c)
scripts denote location in time. At the boundary layer, soret effect on
mass transfer has been neglected. In effect, the influence of temperature j k+1
gradient on mass transfer is generally lower than the one of mass gra- s (Eb+L)DH t
A3ij = ;B2 ij
dient [55,66]. 2( s C p x2 + ( + t s (Eb+L)DH ) t)
i
Initial conditions: j k+1 j k+1
DH t t DH t
= ;B3ij =
j= 0; i: 0 2 N+ 1 (21a) 2( x2 + DH t) 2( x2 + DH t)
i i (23d)

T 0i = To; H 0i = H o (21b) 1 k+1

C1ij = A1ij 1Tij 1
+ A2ij 1(Tij 1
1 + Tij+11) + A3ij 1 (H ij 1
1 2Hij 1
+ Hij+11)
Humidity and temperature of wall indoor face each time: (23e)

j:1 M;i = 2 N+ 1 (21c) 1 k+1

C2 ij = B1ij 1Hij 1
+ B2 ij 1 (H ij 1
1 + H ij+11) + B3ij 1 (Tij 1
1 2Tij 1
+ Tij+11)
(23f)
j F7 0j F60j j j
T2N +1 = ; H2N+ 1 = F8 0
F5 0j (21d) Convergence tolerance:
The iterative method was repeated until an approximation of the
Humidity and temperature of wall outdoor face each time: solution is reached. The convergence tolerance used to stop criterion is
given by max defined as:
j:1 M;i = 0 (22a)
k+1 k k+1 k
Tij Tij Hij Hij
F30j + F4 0j max = max ;
T0j = ; H0j = F10j Tij
k+1
H ij
k+1
(24)
F2 0j (22b)
Results are recorded in ith node when < 10 5 .
With: max

DH x(i+ 1) = x(i) + x= x(0) + ( i+ 1) x (25a)

H(0) + hmext X eq (Taext , HR aext) + t s (Eb+L)DH
F10j = x
DH
; F2 0j = h cext +
+ hmext x t( j+ 1) = t(j) + t= t(0) + ( j+ 1) t (25b)
x
(22c)
e
x=
F4 0j = 2N1 + 1 (26a)
l Lhm,ext (X eq (Taext , HR aext) H(0)) + h cext Taext + Ggloi (22d)
To have stability of this method, time step has been taken such as:
s (Eb+L)DH (H(1) H(0)) + t s (Eb+L)DH
F3 0j = + T(0)
x x (22e) s Cp x2 x2
t min ,
2 2DH (26b)
+ t s (Eb+L)DH s (Eb+L)DH
F5 0j = h cint + ; F6 0j = Su and Xu [67] had chosen to have x and t near than 0.1 mm and
x x
30s respectively. In this work, x and t have been taken equal to
(H(2 N+ 1) H(2N) 0.464 mm (N1 = 75) and 1s respectively, results were recorded each
(22f) 2 h.

+ t s (Eb+L)DH
F7 0j = h cint Tai + T(2N); F80j 5. Model validation
x
DH
H(2N) + hmint X eq (Tai, HR ai)
= x
DH
In order to test the proposed model for its validation, experimental
hmint + x (22g) measurements and predicted values given by the present model for the
obtained equilibrium moisture content, moisture content, and tem-
Humidity and temperature of wall thickness each time: perature of the concrete were compared. The mean relative error (MRE)
is used to validate the proposed model. This error is defined in Eq. (27)
j:1 M; i: 1 2N;k: 1 kmax (23a)
in the case of temperature as:
k+1 1 k+1 k+1 k N
Tij = C1ij + A2 ij (Tij 1 + Tij+1 ) + A3 ij 100 Texp,i Ttheor,i
MRE(%) =
(Hij
k+1
2Hij
k
+ Hij+1
k
)
N i= 1
Texp,i (27)
1
k+1 k+1 j k+1 k
H ij = C2 ij 1 j
+ B2 i (Hi 1 + Hij+1 ) + B3 ij Where Texp, i and Ttheor, i are the average experimental and theoretical
(Tij 1
k+1 jk
2Ti + Ti+1 )j k temperature of the concrete for the ith observation, respectively, and N
(23b)
is the number of observations.

6
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 3. Desorption isotherms modeled.
b1XmHR
X eq =
(1 b2 HR)(1 b2 HR + b1HR)
Xm = 3.522x10 4 T+ 0.12896
7140.64518
b2 = 9.559161exp
RT
3009.08602
b1 = 16.6599887exp
RT
6. Results and discussion
6.1. Model verification
The model proposed in the present work was first verified by
comparing the results with experimental values. Hundt test data taken
from Chen et al. [30] are used to validate the model on concrete as
shown in Fig. 4a,b. To validate the model in the case of wooden
building wall, experimental data taken from Rafidiarison et al. [68] are
used. This is to test its applicability for coupling heat and mass transfer
through a porous medium. The choice of this case as a benchmark to
verify the numerical simulation is because of the scarcity of data in this
area in Sub-Saharan Africa. One side of the wall was exposed to the
warm and humid environment, and the other side is impermeable and
exposed to cold temperature. The two sides were not exposed to the
solar irradiation, thus Gglo, i = 0 W/m2 during this validation. Initially,
the wall is assumed to be fully dry with a uniform temperature equals
the ambient temperature and the vapour density equals the ambient
vapour density. All the initial and physical parameters in the calcula-
tion are determined according to experimental conditions. Thermo-
physical parameters on concrete obtained from the various literature
are presented in Table 2 while that of wood is shown in appendix B.
Sorption isotherms within temperatures range of 20 °C–80 °C and the air
relative humidity range of 0%–100% was obtained from Refs. [69,70]
and used for the validation To choose the best fit isotherms equation to
be applied to the hygrothermal model, the result from Refs. [69,70] was
fitted into different kinetic models and the best fit model (GAB model)
was chosen and shown in Fig. 3. The ensuring equations from the fitting
model are shown in equation 28 (a-d). From the result in Fig. 3, the
mean average error (MAE) obtained using all experimental values in the
temperatures ranged from 20 °C to 80 °C for the GAB model is 0.98. This
result for the MRE is in accordance with that of previous research work
[71].
Figs. 4 and 5 showed a good agreement between the presented
theoretical results and measured data. In general, the MRE obtained on
temperature evolutions and moisture evolutions using both concrete
building wall and wooden building wall are lower than 12%, as showed
7
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
(28a)
(28b)
(28c)
(28d)
in Table 3. These results for the MRE are also in accordance with that of
previous research work [71]. Many reasons can explain the differences
between the experimental and theoretical points. In this study, thermal
conductivity, specific heat capacity, activation energy, and mass dif-
fusivity thermophysical parameters of concrete used are assumed con-
stant. Really, these parameters are a function of temperature, binder
composition, moisture content and concrete type [70,75–78]. Fig. 5c
shows that all theoretical values are obtained when iterative tolerances
are lower than 9 × 10−6. Fig. 5 (a,b) shows that modification of the
exterior temperature affects the temperature of the wooden wall in the
side of the interior after 4 h, which is similar to the result obtained by
Rafidiarison et al. [68]. Fig. 5b shows that with 70 mm thickness of the
building wall during the summer period, temperature variations of the
wall surface in the interior side are in the range of human comfort. The
same curve shows that the moisture content of the wall is near 0.13 kg/
kg and almost stable. Fig. 5d shows that exterior side of the wooden
wall (0.1 kg/kg initial moisture content) is more influenced by the
meteorological data between the night and the day. Using Norway
spruce wood, it is very important to dry the wooden material to
0.13 kg/kg moisture content and thermally insulate the wall in exterior
side.
6.2. Hygrothermal transfer through a wooden building wall subjected to
Sub-Saharan Africa environment
The climatic data (global and diffuse solar irradiations, ambient air
absolute humidity and temperature) for the simulation was obtained
with Meteonorm software [79] according to Simo-Tagne et al. [71,80].
The overall irradiation received on a wooden wall (vertical plane) is
computed from the diffuse and global irradiations received on a hor-
izontal plane. Appendix A presents the methodology used to estimate
the overall irradiation received on a vertical plane ( = 90°). Thermo-
physical parameters used were obtained experimentally (on wood and
air) and taken from literature (see Appendices B-C). Fig. 6 presents the
evolution of the meteorological characteristics in Yaoundé during No-
vember. Air relative humidity varies from 70% to 100% between the
night and the day. Ambient air temperature varies from 18 °C to 29 °C.
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Fig. 4. Comparison of experimental [30] and simulated data (moisture content (a) and temperature (b)) through the wall thickness in concrete, and variations of the
mean relative error (c).

These two variations were considered in choosing the best values for and the mechanical properties of the building. Fig. 7 presents tem-
the temperature and relative humidity for buildings construction ma- perature and moisture content evolutions of exterior surface and in-
terials like wood, because they are hygroscopic. Gain or loss of a great terior surface of the wooden building wall made from Iroko timber in
quantity of humidity from ambient air by the wall destroys the quality Yaoundé (Cameroon) environment, during the month of November

8
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Table 2 Table 3
Parameters of concrete used for simulation in order to validate the model in the Mean relative error (MRE) obtained on wall building in concrete and in wood.
case of concrete.
Mean relative errors (%)
Parameters and units estimations References
Concrete Wood
Density( s ) (kg/m3) 2400 [72]
Thermal conductivity ( )(W/(m.K)) 3.01 [30] H T,1 day T,7 days T,28 days T,Norway spruce
Specific heat capacity (Cp ) (J/(kg.K)) 1012 [73] 10.871 11.518 2.033 8.263 5.33
Mass diffusion coefficient (DH )(m2/s) 1.64 × 10−10 [74]
Activation energy (Ea ) (J/mol) 26000 [75]
Heat desorption (Eb) (J/kg) 64.6 106 [70]
1.31 +
H
2 18
for the different wooden wall simulated which includes Obeche, Iroko,
Xm
Moabi, Frake and Doussié during the month of November in Yaoundé.
Airflow velocity outdoor (m/s) 10
Airflow velocity indoor (m/s) 1
This figure shows that variations of wall temperatures and moisture
contents are a function of the wood types and the ambient conditions.
During the days, wall temperatures were very much higher than the
(Fig. 7a), and between the November 11th and November 16th ambient air temperature for all the wood types as shown in Fig. 8a
(Fig. 7b). This figure shows that when initial moisture content of the while at night, the temperature of the wall is nearer the ambient air
wall is equal to 0.2 kg/kg, wall average moisture content decreases an temperature. It is noteworthy to mention that in Yaounde, the relative
average value of about 0.13 kg/kg. This result was similar to those humidity decreases towards the end of the year to February, which
found in literature for outdoor condition [81,82]. Variations of the solar reflected on the high wooden wall moisture content observed at the
irradiations permit to have a variation of the temperature of the beginning of November that decreased towards the end of November to
wooden wall between 18 °C and 95 °C for the exterior surface of the December as shown in Fig. 8b. Additionally, the results show that Frake
wall, and between 24 °C and 45 °C for the internal surface. It is clear wood has very high wall temperature and relatively low moisture
that wooden material reduces very well the heat transfer through the content compared to other wood materials at the same ambient con-
wall of the building. Great differences between the temperatures and dition. This implies that it will be good material to leave in during the
moisture contents of the two surfaces of the wooden wall were ob- cold period to keep the house warm especially when the humidity is
served. high. Therefore, to minimize high moisture level in wooden building,
Fig. 8 shows the evolutions of temperatures and moisture contents the initial moisture content should be as low as possible which in this

Fig. 5. Comparison of experimental temperature evolution [68] and simulated temperature evolution through the wooden (Norway Spruce) wall thickness(a) with
mean relative error obtained (c), and evolutions of temperatures and moisture contents at the surfaces of wooden building wall (b,d).

9
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Fig. 6. Diffuse and global solar irradiations, temperature and relative humidity of ambient air in Yaoundé during November [79].

Fig. 7. Evolution of wall surface temperatures and wall surface moisture contents in Yaoundé during November (Iroko, Tangential direction, Thick = 5 cm,
H0 = 0.2 kg/kg, T0 = 24 °C, Tai = 24 °C, Vai = 0.4 m/s).

10
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 8. Influence of wooden wall type on (a)wall average temperature and (b)wall average moisture content in Yaoundé during November (Tangential direction,
Tai = 24 °C, T0 = 24 °C, Ho = 0.2 kg/kg, Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).
case we are proposing 0.185 kg/kg as the mean equilibrium moisture
content value to dry the woods to in order to minimize the wall
moisture content fluctuations during their uses in Yaoundé.
Fig. 9 presents the evolutions of wall moisture content and wall
temperature content during November in eight Sub Saharan cities that,
includes Yaoundé, Bangui, Brazzaville, Ndjamena, Douala, Kinshasa
and Libreville with the wall made from moabi wood. The results from
the graph reflected the physical environmental conditions in those ci-
ties, which shows that the results are in good agreement with the model
developed. However, for optimum leaving condition, considering tem-
perature and moisture evolutions in these cities, 0.18 kg/kg moisture
content is a good average moisture content for wood as building wall in
Douala, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, 0.175 kg/kg moisture content is re-
commended for Yaoundé while 0.19 kg/kg moisture content for Libre-
ville. In the case of Ndjamena, an average moisture content of 0.145 kg/
kg may be obtained because solar irradiation and ambient temperature
are high with a lower air relative humidity. Fig. 9b shows that at 12:00
November 11th, wall average temperature in Ndjamena is more than
74 °C while the average wall temperatures for the other six towns
11
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
ranged from 20 °C to 64 °C. Therefore, the moisture content for wall
building using wood should be considered as function of each town in
Sub Saharan region. Fig. 10 confirms this observation when the wooden
wall is used in five other towns (Ouagadougou, Maroua, Benin City, Sao
Tomé Island and Nkongsamba). Fig. 10a shows that in general, when
latitude increases internal wall temperature also increases at 16:00
while Fig. 10b shows that when latitude increases above 10°N, average
equilibrium moisture content decreases considerably. Fig. 10c shows
that during the day, wooden wall has a high heat flux density near
16:00. Therefore, during the day, the wall accumulates a high energy
and a quantity of this energy is exchanged by the inner air and modified
condition of the interior air. At night, a part of this energy accumulated
by the wall is reduced and given to the exterior and interior ambient
air. The average heat flux densities obtained are equal to 19.6W/m2,
24.5W/m2, 27.2W/m2, 30.4W/m2 and 30.8 W/m2 for Benin City, Sao
Tomé Island, Nkongsamba, Ouagadougou and Maroua respectively
with conditions of 5 cm thickness of Doussie plank used from the 1st
March to the 6th March, Fig. 10c.
Fig. 11 presents the influence of the anatomical direction of the
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 9. Comparison of the evolutions of (a) wall average moisture content and (b) wall average temperature in seven towns during November (Tangential direction,
Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s, H0 = 0.18 kg/kg, Tini = 24 °C, Moabi).
planks used to construct the wall of building on evolution of tempera-
ture and moisture content through the thickness of the wall in Benin
City using Doussié wood with 0.18 kg/kg initial moisture content from
March 1st to March 6th. When the planks used to construct the walls are
in tangential direction, temperatures and moisture contents of the in-
ternal side of the wall are instantaneously nearer than the one obtained
in radial direction, although the two evolutions were very close. At the
same thickness, anatomical direction has less influence on the heat and
mass transfer through the wooden wall. Internal temperature oscillates
between 24 °C and 38 °C while wall average moisture content oscillates
between 0.1 kg/kg and 0.117 kg/kg, showing that Doussié may be dried
until 0.11 kg/kg equilibrium moisture content for it to be used in Benin
City environment during the month of March.
Fig. 12 presents the influence of the wooden wall thickness in Benin
City during the month of March (from the March 01st at 00:00 to March
06th at 00:00) with Doussie as reference wood. Fig. 12a shows that the
increase in the thickness of the wall of the building reduces variations
of temperature and moisture content through the wall. Thus the in-
crease of the thickness of wall improves the isolation of the interior of
12
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
building. Therefore, according to the results presented in Figs. 10 and
12a, it is possible to have the same exchanged heat flux through the
wooden building wall as a function of the latitude if the thickness of the
wooden wall is adjusted. Thickness of the wooden wall may be in-
creased with latitude in order to have the same or near exchanged heat
flux for the buildings constructed in different latitude. Also, when 5 cm
are added in the thickness of the wall from 5 cm to 15 cm, Fig. 12a
shows that the extreme of temperatures and moisture contents are ob-
tained after 1 h duration. Using 7 cm thickness, Rafidiarison et al. [68]
had obtained a value of 4 h, using Norway spruce as wall building.
Interior moisture content is influenced by the thickness of the wall. The
increase of wooden wall thickness decreases amplitude of variation of
internal moisture content and internal temperature of the wooden wall
during the day, but this influence is obtained at about 0.005 kg/kg and
6.5 °C when wall thickness is located between 5 cm and 15 cm as shown
in Fig. 12a. Additionally, Fig. 12b shows that during the day when the
thickness of the wooden wall ranged from 5 cm to 15 cm, exchanged
heat flux density oscillates between 0 W/m2 and 60 W/m2 with average
values equal to 19.6W/m2, 16.1W/m2 and 13.6W/m2 for 5 cm thick,
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Fig. 10. Influence of the latitude of the heat and mass transfer: (a)wall interior temperature, (b)wall interior moisture content and (c)heat flux density (Tangential
direction, Tai = 24 °C, T0 = 24 °C, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg, Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).

13
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Fig. 11. Influence of the anatomical direction of wooden wall on wall interior temperature and wall interior moisture content (Benin City, Doussié, Tai = 24 °C,
T0 = 24 °C, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg, Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).

Fig. 12. Influence of the wooden wall thickness on (a) wall interior temperature, (a) wall interior moisture content and (b) heat flux density (Benin City, Tangential
direction, Doussié, Tai = 24 °C, T0 = 24 °C, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg, Vai = 0.4 m/s).

14
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 13. Influence of the interior air temperature on wall interior temperature (Ouagadougou (a) and Nkongsamba (b), Tangential direction, Fraké, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg,
Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).
10 cm thick and 15 cm thick respectively. Comparing this result with
concrete wall at the selected days of the year in Yaoundé (lati-
tude = 3.87°N), Kousseri (latitude = 12.08°N) and Ngaoundéré (lati-
tude = 7.34°N), Djongyang et al. [33] obtained the average exchanged
heat flux density ranging from 4 W/m2 and 9 W/m2 in January, and
4 W/m2 and 13 W/m2 in August. This shows that the present model is in
the same range with an instantaneous variation during the year and
along the wall thickness during a selected time of the year, and that
thickness, latitude, construction material types influence the average
value of the exchanged heat flux density. The increase in the thickness
of the wooden wall improves the isolation between interior and exterior
of the building, but absorbs a great quantity of energy.
Fig. 13 (a,b) shows the influence of the variation of air interior
temperature on the temperature of the internal surface of the wooden
wall in Frake at Ouagadougou (Fig. 13a) and Nkongsamba (Fig. 13b).
Using Frake wood of5 cm thickness as example for Ouagadougou and
Nkongsamba during the month of March, the variation of air interior
temperature of the building influences the wall internal temperature
15
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
and the wall internal moisture content. When the temperature of the air
in the building increases, temperature of the internal surface of the wall
also increases, but the moisture content of this surface decreases.
During the day, temperature of the internal surface of the wall increases
and moisture content of this surface decreases. During the night, the
inverse of this variation is showed. Variations of temperature and
moisture content of internal surface of the wall are a function of lati-
tude and temperature of air in the building.
Fig. 14 shows the influence of the climate seasons on the heat and
mass transfer of wooden wall (made in Iroko) located in Brazzaville.
During the rainy season, only humidity of air is taking into account,
thus the amount of liquid water on the wooden wall coming from the
rain is neglected such as many others works [27,57,63]. During long
rainy season, temperature of the wall is higher because air relative
humidity during this period is very weak and facilitates the heat
transfer. During the long dry season, air relative humidity is very high
and creates the inverse effect. During these three seasons, the range of
variation of the average moisture content is lies between 0.165 kg/kg
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 14. Influence of the climate seasons on (a) wall average temperature and (b) wall average moisture content (Brazzaville, Tangential direction, Iroko, Tai = 24 °C,
T0 = 24 °C, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg, Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).
and 0.185 kg/kg when initial moisture content is 0.18 kg/kg as shown
in Fig. 14b. Thus, wooden building walls present the weak variations of
moisture content. To reduce the variation of average temperature each
season, it is important to increase the thickness of the wall, such as
showing in Fig. 12a.
Fig. 15a,b shows the distribution of the temperature and moisture
content along wall thickness at 4:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 12:00 a.m. 4:00
p.m. and 10:00 p.m. the January 20th in Kinshasa when the wall is
made from Iroko wood. In general, the part of the wall located in in-
terior of the building (x = e, see Fig. 2) has a temperature lower than
the one of exterior (x = 0 cm), because exterior air temperature of
ambient air is higher than the one of interior air. During the day (10:00
a.m. and 12:00 a.m. for example), exterior air temperature is important
due to the presence of the solar irradiation. At 12:00 p.m., difference
between the exterior and interior temperatures is maximum with a
value of about 25 °C. At night, exterior and interior temperatures are
near because solar irradiation is equal to zero. Fig. 15b shows the
16
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
importance of drying the wood plank before using them in the con-
struction in sub-Saharan region. In effect, when wood plank is dried to
18 kg/kg moisture content, the drying continues when the plank is used
as building wall and creates non stability and discoloration of the wall.
According to Figs. 15b and 0.12 kg/kg moisture content is re-
commended as equilibrium moisture content when iroko is used in
Kinshasa. The permanent variations of the air characteristics at the
surface of the wooden wall are well expressed by the model (Fig. 15b).
Fig. 15 (a,b) shows that it is interesting to protect the two surfaces of
the wall in order to reduce the heat and mass transfers effects. To de-
crease this higher influence of ambient air, it is important to increase a
layer of paint on the outer boundary layer of the wall.
Fig. 16 (a,b,c) shows the evolution of temperature, moisture content
and humidity along the wall thickness in function of wood types in
January 20th at 12:00 a.m. in Kinshasa. Fig. 16a shows that when wood
density increases, value of the temperature at a given x-axis value in-
creases. In effect, the thermal conductivity of the wood increases with
M. Simo-Tagne, et al.
Fig. 15. Distributions of (a) temperature and (b) moisture content along thickness of the wall the January 20th in Kinshasa (Tangential direction, Iroko, Tai = 24 °C,
T0 = 24 °C, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg, Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).
the density as showed in Eq. (B6) of appendix B. Thus, it is important to
use the less dense types of wood to reduce heat transfer through the
wood walls. At 12:00 a.m. on the 20th January in Kinshasa, exterior
temperature of the wooden wall is higher than 60 °C while the interior
temperature of this wall is higher by 30 °C–40 °C when Moabi is used.
Thus, it is important to add the thickness of the wall in order to reduce
the heat and mass transferred through the wall as showed in Fig. 12a.
Fig. 16b shows that the denser types of wood absorb less humidity than
the less dense types of wood. This figure confirms an asymmetric heat
mass transfer because heat and mass transfer coefficients in exterior and
interior wall surfaces are not equal. Also, Fig. 16b shows that wood
types used in the building walls influence the mass transfers between
the two faces of the wall. At the date and time chosen to present the
graph of Fig. 16c, air humidity variations are located from 17.7 g/kg to
19.5 g/kg. The high variations of this parameter are located near the
surface where heat and mass transfer are important, i.e. at the exterior
face of the building wall. The use of a thin layer of paint will limit this
strong variation and reduces the transfers that take place.
17
Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901
7. Conclusion
This paper proposes a model to simulate the coupled heat and mass
transfer through two types of building walls: a massive timber walls and
a concrete walls. Mass transfer equations of bound water, free water
and vapour water were used to obtain the transfer of humidity. Soret
effect and Dufour effect were integrated in the coupled model obtained.
Boundary conditions includes phenomenon such as influences of tem-
perature gradient and moisture content on the process. Using the mean
relative error, the numerical results showed a good agreement with
experimental data taken from the literature both in wooden walls and
concrete walls. The model was applied to simulate heat and mass
transfer through five tropical woods using as building walls in the
conditions of Sub Saharan Africa cities where the flux of liquid water
coming from the rain was neglected. Our results showed that the wood
types used to construct the walls, latitude, wall thickness, climatic
seasons; interior air temperature and interior air relative humidity in-
fluence the coupled heat and mass transfer through the wall. From
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

Fig. 16. Influence of the wooden wall type on the distributions of (a) temperature, (b) moisture content and (c) air humidity along the thickness of wall in Kinshasa
the January 20th at 12:00 (Tangential direction, Tai = 24 °C, To = 24 °C, Ho = 0.18 kg/kg, Thick = 5 cm, Vai = 0.4 m/s).

18
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

equatorial region, when the latitude increases, it is important to in-
crease the thickness of the wall in order to adjust the heat flux density
and assure the comfort. To protect the wall, it is important to use a
small coat of paint, because heat and mass transfer are important on the
surfaces and could weaken the quality of the wall. The less dense wood
type is suitable for better insulating the interior of the building. Cutting
direction did not influence heat and mass transfers. At 12:00 noon, it is
possible to have the temperatures of 45 °C for the internal air closer to
the walls, thus it is recommended to use the composite walls in the
African sub Saharan regions in order to limit the heat mass transfer
through the walls during the dry season.

Appendix A. Solar irradiation of an inclined plane with degree to the horizontal [83]:

1 + cos( ) 1 cos( )
Gi ( ) = R bGdirH + GdifH + GgloH ; GgloH = GdifH + GdirH
2 2 (A1)

cos( )cos( )sin( ) + sin( )sin( ) 360

Rb = ; = 23.45sin (n+ 284)
cos( )cos( )sin( ) + sin( )sin( ) 365 (A2)

= min( , acos( tan( )tan( ))); = acos( tan( )tan( )) (A3)

Appendix B. Wood characteristics

Wood sorption isotherms [81]:

CKXm HR
X eq =
(1 KHR)(1 KHR + CKHR) (B1.1)

Ea Hc Hk
Xm = Xmoexp ; C= Coexp ; K= K oexp
RTa RTa RTa (B1.2)
Ta is air temperature in Kelvin and R is the Universal gas constant (8.314J/(mol.K)). HR is the relative humidity of the air depending of air
absolute humidity (in decimal). Parameters according to each wood are given in Table B1 and taken from Ref. [81].

Table B1
Woods desorption isotherms coefficients [81].

Parameters Tropical woods

Doussié Iroko Moabi Obeche Frake

Co 31.901 7.4254 8.902 100.3365 0.76756

H c (J/mol) −1585.247 1799.205 802.114 −7391.3406 6094.7665
Ko 2.305 1.597 1.870 3.53826 0.32482
Hk (J/mol) −2862.972 −1831.894 −2208.216 −4045.3993 1600.2818
Xmo (kg/kg) 5.023 × 10−4 1.22 × 10−3 1.164 × 10−3 3.461 × 10−4 3.41 × 10−3
Ea (J/mol) 12047.120 9926.935 10337.483 13910.4126 8420.7271

Fibre saturation point [71]:

CKXm
Xfsp =
(1 K)(1 K+ CK) (B2)
Wood activation energy (J/mol) [55]:
Ea = 4.18(9200 7000X eq) (B3)
Temperature gradient effect [84]:
Ea HRCKXm [1 + HR2K(CK K)]
t =
RT2 [1+ (CK 2K)HR K(CK K)HR2]2 (B4)
3
Wood density at 0.12 kg/kg moisture content ( 12 )and at 0 kg/kg moisture content (kg/m ) [44–47].
Obeche: 0 = 450.6kg/m3 ; Frake: 0 = 431.5kg/m3 ; Doussié: 12 = 800kg/m3 ; Moabi: 12 = 870kg/m3; Iroko: 12 = 640kg/m3
Dry wood density (Doussié, Iroko and Moabi) is given by. o = 12 /1.12
Bound water mass diffusivity: For the tangential direction [85]:
4300
DH = exp 9.9 + 9.8X eq
T (B5)
T in K.
in radial direction: D = 2DH
Wood thermal conductivity (W/(mK)) [12]:

19
M. Simo-Tagne, et al. Journal of Building Engineering 26 (2019) 100901

s
= (0.2003 + 0.548H) + 0.02378
l (B6)
H in kg/kg.
Specific heat (kJ/(kg.K)) [12]:
Cpo + XCpw
C pb = + Ac
1 +X (B7)

0 if X> Xfsp
Ac = 4
X( 0.06191 + 2.36x10 T 1.33x10 2X) if X Xfsp (B8)
C po = 0.1031 + 0.003867T;C pw = 0.00419 (B9)
Sorption heat (J/kg) [57]:
Eb = 1170.4x103exp( 14X) (B10)
Vapour mass diffusion coefficient in wooden wall (m2 / s ) [54];
5 1.81
2.25x10 T
Dg =
Patm 273 (B11)
T in K;
Patm = 101325 12 z+ 5.2x10 4z2 (B12)
z is the town altitude (m).

Appendix C. Air and water characteristics

*Density of the air-vapour (kg/m3) [58].

353
=
air
T (C1)
T in K.
Water density (kg/m3) [58]:

l = 0.0038T 2 0.0505 T+ 1002.6 (C2)

Latent heat of vaporization of the water (J/kg) [55]:
L= (3335 2.91T)x103 (C3)
T in K;
Air dynamical viscosity (Pa.s) [86]:
µair = 10 5 (0.0046 T+ 1.7176) (C4)
T in °C.
Air thermal conductivity (W/(mK)) [58]:

air = 7.57x10 5 T+ 0.0242 (C5)

T in °C.
Prandtl number (−) (T in °C) [86]:
Pr = 2.54x10 4 T+ 0.7147 (C6)

Appendix D. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2019.100901.

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