Modeling the Moisture Buffering Behavior of a Coated Biobased Building Material by Including Hysteresis

To investigate the influence of plastering on the moisture buffering behavior of hemp concrete, experiments are performed on two samples, one uncoated and one coated with less hygroscopic lime-based plasters. Global mass variations were monitored and results indicate in this case that coating reduces the MBV of hemp concrete. In addition, local temperatures and relative humidities are also measured at several depths within the samples in the view of validating a heat and mass transfer model. Results show that including the hysteretic behavior of each layer (hemp concrete and plasters) leads to a better agreement between numerical and experimental results, but also plays a significant role in the prediction of stored energy.