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The design of numerical tools to model the behavior of building materials is a challenging task. The crucial point is to save computational cost and maintain high accuracy of predictions. There are two main limitations on the time scale choice, which put an obstacle to solve the above issues. First one is the numerical restriction. A number of research is dedicated to overcome this limitation and it is shown that it can be relaxed with innovative numerical schemes. The second one is the physical restriction. It is imposed by properties of a material, phenomena itself and corresponding boundary conditions. This work is focused on the study of a methodology that enables to overcome the physical restriction on the time grid. So-called Average Reduced Model (ARM) is suggested. It is based on smoothing the time-dependent boundary conditions. Besides, the approximate solution is decomposed into average and fluctuating components. The primer is obtained by integrating the equations over time, whereas the latter is an user-defined empirical model. The methodology is investigated for both heat diffusion and coupled heat and mass transfer. It is demonstrated that the signal core of the boundary conditions is preserved and the physical restriction can be relaxed. The model proved to be reliable, accurate and efficient also in comparison with the experimental data of two years. The implementation of the scarce time-step of $1 \, \sf{h}$ is justified. It is shown, that by maintaining the tolerable error it is possible to cut computational effort up to almost four times in comparison with the complete model with the same time grid.

International audience; In this article, both numerical and experimental investigations were carried out on the durability of hemp concrete. For this, an accelerated aging process was performed using cycles of immersion, freezing and drying. Then, an experimental campaign was enabled to determine heat and mass transfer properties, as well as the microstructure for both aged and reference materials. Observations using a digital microscope showed the appearance of cracks at the interfaces and an increase of the porosity of about 6%. These microstructural modifications imply a non-negligible evolution of heat and mass transfer properties. Thus, a numerical model for the prediction of heat and mass transfer was developed. The prediction of physical phenomena was computed using both aged and reference material properties. It highlights the aging effects on the behaviour of the hemp concrete. The numerical simulation results showed significant discrepancies between the predicted relative humidity values for the two configurations (aged and reference) of about 18% and a maximum phase shift of 40 min, due to the amplification of the mass transfer kinetics after aging. Nevertheless, few deviations in temperature values were found. Thus, after aging, sensible heat fluxes were overestimated compared to the reference case, unlike latent heat fluxes, where an underestimation was shown.

Estimating the temperature field of a building envelope could be a time-consuming task. The use of a reduced-order method is then proposed: the Proper Generalized Decomposition method. The solution of the transient heat equation is then re-written as a function of its parameters: the boundary conditions, the initial condition, etc. To avoid a tremendous number of parameters, the initial condition is parameterized. This is usually done by using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition method to provide an optimal basis. Building this basis requires data and a learning strategy. As an alternative, the use of orthogonal polynomials (Chebyshev, Legendre) is here proposed.

41 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, 32 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/; International audience; This article proposes an efficient explicit numerical model with a relaxed stability condition for the simulation of heat, air and moisture transfer in porous material. Three innovative approaches are combined to solve the system of three partial differential equations. The Du Fort-Frankel scheme is used to solve the diffusion equation, providing an explicit scheme with an extended stability region. The two advection--diffusion equations are solved using both Scharfetter-Gummel numerical scheme for the space discretisation and the two-step Runge-Kutta method for the time variable. This combination enables to relax the stability condition by one order. The proposed numerical model is evaluated on three case studies. The first one considers quasi-linear coefficients to confirm the theoretical results by numerical computations. The stability condition is relaxed by a factor of 40 compared to the standard approach. The second case provides an analytical solution for weakly nonlinear problem. A very satisfactory accuracy is observed between the reference solution and the one provided by the numerical model. The last case study assumes more realistic application with nonlinear coefficients and Robin-type boundary conditions. The computational time is reduced 10 times by using the proposed model in comparison with the explicit Euler method.

36 pages, 23 figures, 3 tables, 44 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/; International audience; The reliability of mathematical models for heat and mass transfer in building porous material is of capital importance. A reliable model permits to carry predictions of the physical phenomenon with sufficient confidence in the results. Among the physical phenomena, the hysteresis effects on moisture sorption and moisture capacity need to be integrated in the mathematical model of transfer. This article proposes to explore the use of an smooth Bang-Bang model to simulate the hysteresis effects coupled with heat and mass transfer in porous material. This model adds two supplementary differential equations to the two classical ones for heat and mass transfer. The solution of these equations ensures smooth transitions between the main sorption and desorption curves. Two parameters are required to control the speed of transition through the intermediary curves. After the mathematical description of the model, an efficient numerical model is proposed to compute the fields with accuracy and reduced computational efforts. It is based on the Du Fort-Frankel scheme for the heat and mass balance equations. For the hysteresis numerical model, an innovative implicit-explicit approach is proposed. Then, the predictions of the numerical model are compared with experimental observations from literature for two case studies. The first one corresponds to a slow cycle of adsorption and desorption while the second is based on a fast cycling case with alternative increase and decrease of moisture content. The comparisons highlight a very satisfactory agreement between the numerical predictions and the observations. In the last Section, the reliability and efficiency of the proposed model is investigated for long term simulation cases. The importance of considering hysteresis effects in the reliability of the predictions are enhanced by comparison with classical approaches from literature.

The standard methods to determine the vapour permeability and the moisture sorption curve may lack of accuracy since discrepancies are observed when comparing numerical predictions to experimental data. Moreover, these properties are determined in steady state conditions while the numerical predictions are carried in transient regime. Thus, this paper presents an experimental design to estimate these properties using dynamic measurements and identification method. The experimental facility is presented, enabling to measure at the same time the relative humidity within the material and the total moisture content. The performance of the facility and protocol in terms of reproducibility, uncertainty and direction of heat and moisture transfers are checked, confirming the abilities of the set-up. Then, experimental results are used to determine the hygrothermal material properties using a trust-region algorithm. Investigations are done to analyse important issues as the choice of the observation: relative humidity and/or mass measurements, to solve the parameter estimation problem. The estimated properties are finally validated by comparing the numerical predictions with experimental data for other boundary conditions.

One possibility to improve the accuracy of building performance simulation (BPS) tools is via co-simulation techniques, where more accurate mathematical models representing particular and complex p...

A computational procedure known as co-simulation has been proposed in the literature as a possibility to extend the capabilities and improve the accuracy of building performance simulation (BPS) to...

Implicit schemes require important sub-iterations when dealing with highly nonlinear problems such as the combined heat and moisture transfer through porous building elements. The computational cost rises significantly when the whole-building is simulated, especially when there is important coupling among the building elements themselves with neighbouring zones and with HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems. On the other hand, the classical Euler explicit scheme is generally not used because its stability condition imposes very fine time discretisation. Hence, this paper explores the use of an improved explicit approach - the Dufort-Frankel scheme - to overcome the disadvantage of the classical explicit one and to bring benefits that cannot be obtained by implicit methods. The Dufort-Frankel approach is first compared to the classical Euler implicit and explicit schemes to compute the solution of nonlinear heat and moisture transfer through porous materials. Then, the analysis of the Dufort-Frankel unconditionally stable explicit scheme is extended to the coupled heat and moisture balances on the scale of a one- and a two-zone building models. The Dufort-Frankel scheme has the benefits of being unconditionally stable, second-order accurate in time O(dt^2) and to compute explicitly the solution at each time step, avoiding costly sub-iterations. This approach may reduce the computational cost by twenty, as well as it may enable perfect synchronism for whole-building simulation and co-simulation., 38 pages, 19 figures, 3 tables, 28 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/

This work is devoted to proposing a hybrid numerical–analytical method to address the problem of heat and moisture transfer in porous soils. Several numerical and analytical models have been used to study heat and moisture transfer. The complexity of the coupled transfer in soils is such that analytical solutions exist only for limited problems, while numerical solutions can deal with more realistic ones but at a higher computational cost. Therefore, we propose to implement analytical solutions where variations of temperature and moisture content are known to be almost nonvarying, while the numerical solution is implemented in the remaining region, near the boundaries. The coupling between solutions is performed assuming the continuity of both fields and fluxes at each interface. This strategy allows assuring the physical phenomenon occurring at the interface. Numerical experiments are performed, showing the accuracy, the efficiency, and the great potential of the method regarding applications in nonlinear soil problems.

In this paper, an innovative method to minimise energy losses through building envelopes is presented, using the Proper Generalised Decomposition (PGD), written in terms of space x, time t, thermal diffusivity α and envelope thickness L. The physical phenomenon is solved at once, contrarily to classical numerical methods that cannot create a parameter dependent model. First, the PGD solution is validated with an analytical solution to prove its accuracy. Then a complex case study of a multi-layer wall submitted to transient boundary conditions is investigated. The parametric solution is computed as a function of the space and time coordinates, as well as the thermal insulation thickness and the load material thermal diffusivity. Physical behaviour and conduction loads are analysed for 76 values of thermal insulation thickness and 100 types of load material properties. Furthermore, the reduced computational cost of the PGD is highlighted. The method computes the solution 100 times faster than standard numerical approaches. In addition, the PGD solution has a low storage cost, providing interesting development of parametric solutions for real-time applications of energy management in buildings.

42 pages, 22 figures, 5 tables, 51 references, 1 Appendix. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/; International audience; The issue to predict the behavior of building materials during wide horizons of time is still challenging. Experimental set-ups, since they require to perform tests for several years, are costly, never at the full scale and inconvenient. Building Performance Simulation (BPS) programs are designed to perform predictions on computational machines and cut experimental costs significantly. Nonetheless, in the recent review of state-of-the-art, it was indicated that despite the wide range of programs, there are still some drawbacks in terms of the accuracy and the high computational cost. This paper investigates the application of an innovative numerical method, called Super-Time-Stepping (STS) method. It allows performing accurate simulations with time-steps much larger than with standard explicit approaches. These "super" time-steps also enable us to reduce the computational cost. In addition to that, the design of the method allows easier application for models in higher dimensions and with nonlinear parameters. The efficiency of the method is tested on linear and nonlinear academic cases. Further study for the reliability of the model is performed on an experimental case study. The experiment has been carried out on a rammed earth wall during almost 14 months. Obtained data is presented in this article and implemented into proposed model. As a result of the case studies, it is shown that in comparison to the Euler explicit method, the STS methods can cut costs by more than five times while maintaining high accuracy and efficiency. A very fine analysis of the physical phenomena is also performed.

The reliability of a model is its accuracy in predicting the physical phenomena. In this paper, the robustness of a model of heat and mass transfer in a porous material is evaluated by comparing the numerical predictions with experimental observations. An experimental facility composed of an enclosure made with spruce CLT panels is used. An increase of temperature is applied in the inside air volume to force the heat transfer from the inner to the outer surfaces. Sensors inside the material enables to have experimental observations of the physical phenomena. Before bench-marking the numerical model, a first set of experimental data is used to reduce the two major source of uncertainties in the model. Indeed, the first source arises from surface heat and mass transfer coefficients, usually determined by empirical correlations. The second comes the thermal conductivity of the material which is defined through standard methods as invariant for the three layers of the spruce panels. To overcome this issue, a set of seven uncertain parameters are estimated using an hybrid optimizer after demonstrating their theoretical and practical identifiability. Then, the reliability of the numerical model, based on the Du Fort–Frankel explicit scheme, is evaluated by comparison to a second set of experimental data obtained in another wall of the enclosure. A very satisfactory agreement is remarked showing the accuracy of the model to predict the physical phenomena in this hygroscopic porous material.

This book is the second edition of Numerical methods for diffusion phenomena in building physics: a practical introduction originally published by PUCPRESS (2016). It intends to stimulate research in simulation of diffusion problems in building physics, by providing an overview of mathematical models and numerical techniques such as the finite difference and finite-element methods traditionally used in building simulation tools. Nonconventional methods such as reduced order models, boundary integral approaches and spectral methods are presented, which might be considered in the next generation of building-energy-simulation tools. In this reviewed edition, an innovative way to simulate energy and hydrothermal performance are presented, bringing some light on innovative approaches in the field.

Innovative and efficient ways to carry out numerical simulations are worth of investigation to reduce the computational complexity of building models and make it possible to solve complex problems. This paper presents a reduced order model, based on Proper Generalised Decomposition (PGD), to assess 2-dimensional heat and moisture transfer in walls. This model is associated with the multizone model Domus using an indirect coupling method. Both models are co-simulated to perform whole-building hygrothermal simulation, considering 2D transfer in walls. The whole-building model is first validated with data from the IEA Annex 41. Then, a case study is considered taking into account a 2-zones building with an intermediary shared wall modelled in 2 dimensions to illustrate the importance of the technique to analyse the hygrothermal behaviour of the wall. It has been highlighted that the whole model enables to perform more precisely analyses such as mould growth on the internal surface. In addition, important theoretical numerical savings (90%) are observed when compared to the large original model. However, the effective numerical savings are not so important (40%) due to the limitations of the co-simulation method.

This work presents an alternative view on the numerical simulation of diffusion processes applied to the heat and moisture transfer through porous building materials. Traditionally, by using the finite-difference approach, the discretization follows the Method Of Lines (MOL), when the problem is first discretized in space to obtain a large system of coupled Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs). Thus, this paper proposes to change this viewpoint. First, we discretize in time to obtain a small system of coupled ODEs, which means instead of having a Cauchy (Initial Value) Problem (IVP), we have a Boundary Value Problem (BVP). Fortunately, BVPs can be solved efficiently today using adaptive collocation methods of high order. To demonstrate the benefits of this new approach, three case studies are presented, in which one of them is compared with experimental data. The first one considers nonlinear heat and moisture transfer through one material layer while the second one considers two material layers. Results show how the nonlinearities and the interface between materials are easily treated, by reasonably using a fourth-order adaptive method. Finally, the last case study compares numerical results with experimental measurements, showing a good agreement., Comment: 45 pages, 21 figures, 5 tables, 47 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/

The reliability of a model is its accuracy in predicting the physical phenomena using the known input parameters. It also depends on the model's ability to estimate relevant parameters using observations of the physical phenomena. In this paper, the reliability of the VTT model is investigated under these two criteria for various given temperature and relative humidity constant in time. First of all, experiments are conducted on bamboo fiberboard. Using these data, five parameters of the VTT model, defining the mold vulnerability class of a material, are identified. The results highlight that the determined parameters are not within the range of the classes defined in the VTT model. In addition, the quality of the parameter estimation is not satisfactory. Then the sensitivity of the numerical results of the VTT model is analyzed by varying an input parameter. These investigations show that the VTT mathematical formulation of the physical model of mold growth is not reliable. An improved model is proposed with a new mathematical formulation. It is inspired by the logistic equation whose parameters are estimated using the experimental data obtained. The parameter estimation is very satisfactory. In the last parts of the paper, the numerical predictions of the improved model are compared to experimental data from the literature to prove its reliability., 33 pages, 10 figures, 9 tables, 29 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/

Comparisons of experimental observation of heat and moisture transfer through porous building materials with numerical results have been presented in numerous studies reported in literature. However, some discrepancies have been observed, highlighting underestimation of sorption process and overestimation of desorption process. Some studies intend to explain the discrepancies by analysing the importance of hysteresis effects as well as carrying out sensitivity analyses on the input parameters as convective transfer coefficients. This article intends to investigate the accuracy and efficiency of the coupled solution by adding advective transfer of both heat and moisture in the physical model. In addition, the efficient Scharfetter and Gummel numerical scheme is proposed to solve the system of advection-diffusion equations, which has the advantages of being well-balanced and asymptotically preserving. Moreover, the scheme is particularly efficient in terms of accuracy and reduction of computational time when using large spatial discretisation parameters. Several linear and non-linear cases are studied to validate the method and highlight its specific features. At the end, an experimental benchmark from the literature is considered. The numerical results are compared to the experimental data for a pure diffusive model and also for the proposed model. The latter presents better agreement with the experimental data. The influence of the hysteresis effects on the moisture capacity is also studied, by adding a third differential equation., 51 pages, 21 figures, 3 tables, 44 references. Other author's publications can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/

This paper presents a practical application of the concept of Optimal Experiment Design (OED) for the determination of properties of porous materials with in-situ measurements and an identification method. First, an experimental set-up was presented and used for the measurement of relative humidity within a wood fibre material submitted to single and multiple steps of relative humidity variation. Then, the application of OED enabled to plan the experimental conditions in terms of sensor positioning and boundary conditions out of 20 possible designs. The OED search was performed using the Fisher information matrix and a priori knowledge of the parameters. It ensures to provide the best accuracy of the identification method and thus the estimated parameter. Optimal design results have been found for single steps from the relative humidity phi = 10 to 75%, with one sensor located at the position X between 4 and 6 cm, for the estimation of moisture permeability coefficients, while from phi = 75% to phi = 33%, with one sensor located at X{\deg} = 3 cm, for the estimation of the advection coefficient. The OED has also been applied for the identification of couples of parameters. A sample submitted to multiple relative humidity steps (phi = 10-75-33-75%) with a sensor placed at X{\deg} = 5 cm was found as the best option for determining both properties with the same experiment. These OED parameters have then been used for the determination of moisture permeability and advection coefficients. The estimated moisture permeability coefficients are twice higher than the a priori values obtained using standard methods. The advection parameter corresponds to the mass average velocity of the order of v = 0.01 mm/s within the material and may play an important role on the simulation of moisture front., Comment: 34 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables, 43 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1704.06565

International audience; Numerical simulation is a powerful tool for assessing the causes of an Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect or quantifying the impact of mitigation solutions on local climatic conditions. However, the numerical cost associated with such a tool, which may seem low for a section of mesh within the district geometric model, is quite significant at the scale of an entire district. Today, the main challenge consists of achieving both a proper representation of the physical phenomena and a critical reduction in the numerical costs of running simulations. This paper presents a combined parametric urban soil model that accurately reproduces thermal heat flux exchanges between the soil and the urban environment with a reduced computation time. For this purpose, the use of a combination of two reduced-order methods is proposed herein: the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) method, and the Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD) method. The developed model is applied to two case studies in order to establish a practical evaluation: an open area independent of the influences of the surrounding surface, namely a parking lot, and a theoretical urban scene with two canyon streets. The mean surface temperature reduction error remains below 0.52 ˝ C for a cut computational cost of 80%.

Innovative and efficient ways to perform numerical simulations are worth investigations to reduce the computational complexity of building models and permit to solve complex problems. This paper proposes a Proper Generalised Decomposition (PGD) model reduction technique for heat and moisture multizone modelling. First, the transient multizone problem is written using PGD formalism and solved in a non-incremental way to assess hygrothermal fields. The computational complexity and accuracy of results of the reduced-order model and the large original model are compared, highlighting that the fields are precisely represented with the PGD resolution. The complexity of the reduced-order model is lower, offering interesting numerical savings, particularly when the number of the building zones increases. The second advantage of the method is for solving parametric problems. Two illustrations are proposed. The first considers a climate and ventilation flow rates parametric multizone problem. The PGD model analyse the behaviour of building zones as a function of these two extra-parameters. For the second, an initial condition and source-term PGD parametric solution is computed. It is then coupled with a wall model to perform whole-building hygrothermal simulation. For both studies, the model represents accurately the hygrothermal fields in the different zones with important computational savings.

This paper presents a review of the use of model reduction techniques for building physics applications. The use of separated representations, the so called Proper Generalised Decomposition (PGD), is particularly investigated. This technique can be applied for efficient building physics modelling at different levels: the wall and multizone models, the whole-building (coupled envelope and air volumes) simulation and their practical applications. The PGD can be formulated as a space-time representation to provide fast and accurate solutions of 2- and 3-dimensional problems at the wall or the whole-building level. Furthermore, the PGD solution allows to treat efficiently parametric problems of practical building applications.

It is of great concern to produce numerically efficient methods for moisture diffusion through porous media, capable of accurately calculate moisture distribution with a reduced computational effort. In this way, model reduction methods are promising approaches to bring a solution to this issue since they do not degrade the physical model and provide a significant reduction of computational cost. Therefore, this article explores in details the capabilities of two model-reduction techniques - the Spectral Reduced-Order Model (Spectral-ROM) and the Proper Generalised Decomposition (PGD) - to numerically solve moisture diffusive transfer through porous materials. Both approaches are applied to three different problems to provide clear examples of the construction and use of these reduced-order models. The methodology of both approaches is explained extensively so that the article can be used as a numerical benchmark by anyone interested in building a reduced-order model for diffusion problems in porous materials. Linear and non-linear unsteady behaviors of unidimensional moisture diffusion are investigated. The last case focuses on solving a parametric problem in which the solution depends on space, time and the diffusivity properties. Results have highlighted that both methods provide accurate solutions and enable to reduce significantly the order of the model around ten times lower than the large original model. It also allows an efficient computation of the physical phenomena with an error lower than 10^{-2} when compared to a reference solution., 42 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, 69 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1704.07607

This paper proposes the use of a Spectral method to simulate diffusive moisture transfer through porous materials as a Reduced-Order Model (ROM). The Spectral approach is an a priori method assuming a separated representation of the solution. The method is compared with both classical Euler implicit and Crank-Nicolson schemes, considered as large original models. Their performance - in terms of accuracy, complexity reduction and CPU time reduction - are discussed for linear and nonlinear cases of moisture diffusive transfer through single and multi-layered one-dimensional domains, considering highly moisture-dependent properties. Results show that the Spectral reduced-order model approach enables to simulate accurately the field of interest. Furthermore, numerical gains become particularly interesting for nonlinear cases since the proposed method can drastically reduce the computer run time, by a factor of 100, when compared to the traditional Crank-Nicolson scheme for one-dimensional applications., 42 pages, 22 figures, 2 tables, 51 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/

When comparing measurements to numerical simulations of moisture transfer through porous materials a rush of the experimental moisture front is commonly observed in several works shown in the literature, with transient models that consider only the diffusion process. Thus, to overcome the discrepancies between the experimental and the numerical models, this paper proposes to include the moisture advection transfer in the governing equation. To solve the advection-diffusion differential equation, it is first proposed two efficient numerical schemes and their efficiencies are investigated for both linear and nonlinear cases. The first scheme, Scharfetter-Gummel (SG), presents a Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition but is more accurate and faster than the second scheme, the well-known Crank-Nicolson approach. Furthermore, the SG scheme has the advantages of being well-balanced and asymptotically preserved. Then, to conclude, results of the convective moisture transfer problem obtained with the SG numerical scheme are compared to experimental data from the literature. The inclusion of an advective term in the model may clearly lead to better results than purely diffusive models., 34 pages, 15 figures, 48 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/

This paper proposes a reduced order model to simulate heat and moisture behaviour of material based on proper general decomposition (PGD). This innovative method is an a priori model reduction method. It proposes an alternative way for computing solutions of the problem by considering a separated representation of the solution. PGD offers an interesting reduction of numerical cost. In this paper, the PGD solution is first compared with a finite element solution and the commercial validated model Delphin in an 1D case. The results show that the PGD resolution techniques enable the field of interest to be represented with accuracy, with a relative error rate of less than 0.1%. The study remains in the hygroscopic range of the material. As the numerical gain of the method becomes interesting when the space dimension increases, this resolution strategy was then used on a 2D multi-layered test case. The dynamics and amplitude of hygrothermal fields are perfectly represented by the PGD solution. Temperature and...

In this paper, the use of Bayesian inference is explored for estimating both the thermal conductivity and the internal convective heat transfer coefficient of an old historic building wall. The room air temperature, as well as the temperatures at the surface and within the wall have been monitored during one year and then used to solve the identification problem. With Bayesian inference, the posterior distributions of the unknown parameters are explored based on their prior distributions and on the likelihood function that models the measurement errors. In this work, the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method is used to explore the posterior distribution. The error of the inadequacy of mathematical model are considered using the approximation error model. The distribution of the estimated parameters have a small standard deviation, which illustrates the accuracy of the method. The parameters have been compared to the standard values from the French thermal regulations. The heat flux at the internal surface has been calculated with the estimated parameters and the standard values. It is shown that the standard values underestimate the heat flux of an order by 10%. This study also illustrates the importance of the preliminary diagnosis of a building with the estimation of the thermal properties of the wall for model calibration.

In the context of estimating material properties of porous walls based on in-site measurements and identification method, this paper presents the concept of Optimal Experiment Design (OED). It aims at searching the best experimental conditions in terms of quantity and position of sensors and boundary conditions imposed to the material. These optimal conditions ensure to provide the maximum accuracy of the identification method and thus the estimated parameters. The search of the OED is done by using the Fisher information matrix and a priori knowledge of the parameters. The methodology is applied for two case studies. The first one deals with purely conductive heat transfer. The concept of optimal experiment design is detailed and verified with 100 inverse problems for different experiment designs. The second case study combines a strong coupling between heat and moisture transfer through a porous building material. The methodology presented is based on a scientific formalism for efficient planning of experimental work that can be extended to the optimal design of experiments related to other problems in thermal and fluid sciences., Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, 34 references. Other author's papers can be downloaded at http://www.denys-dutykh.com/