A method to solve the multilayer non-continuity problem for heat and moisture transfer in building structures.

In this paper a finite-difference method is proposed for the first time for the solution of coupled heat and moisture transfer problems of transient nature in 1-D multilayer building elements. Transient boundary conditions are specified for both heat and moisture transfer at external surfaces, while constant values are assumed for material properties of each layer of the structure. The calculations for a typical three layers wall are conducted to obtain the dynamic distributions of the relative humidity at the interfaces of every layer during 24 h by use of the mentioned method, and the results agree with the transfer function method in (ASHRAE Trans. 1999; 105(2) : 954–961). The method can be extended to 2-D and 3-D coupled heat and moisture transfer problems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]