Building Material
Use this node to model a building material as a porous medium containing a mixture of liquid water and vapor. The overall change in material properties due to moisture transfer is accounted for by the change in an apparent thermal conductivity and a heat source or sink expressed in the divergence operator. It takes into account the latent heat of evaporation:
(6-3)
(6-4)
with the following material properties, fields, and source:
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(ρCp)eff (SI unit: J/(m3·K)) is the effective volumetric heat capacity at constant pressure.
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keff (SI unit: W/(m·K)) is the effective thermal conductivity (a scalar or tensor if the thermal conductivity is anisotropic).
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 Lv (SI unit: J/kg) is the latent heat of evaporation.
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δp (SI unit: s) is the vapor permeability tensor.
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 ϕw  (dimensionless) is the relative humidity.
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psat (SI unit: Pa) is the vapor saturation pressure.
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Q (SI unit: W/m3) is the heat source (or sink). Add one or more heat sources as separate physics features. See the Heat Source node, for example.
For a steady-state problem the temperature does not change with time and the first term disappears.
Model Input
This section contains fields and values that are inputs for expressions defining material properties. If such user-defined property groups are added, the model inputs appear here.
Volume Reference Temperature
This section is available when a temperature-dependent density defined in a material is used. On the material frame, the density is evaluated in relation to a reference temperature in order to ensure conservation of the mass in the presence of temperature variations. By default the Common model input is used. This corresponds to the variable minput.Tempref, which is set to 293.15 K by default. To edit it, click the Go to Source button (), and in the Default Model Inputs node under Global Definitions, set a value for the Volume reference temperature in the Expression for remaining selection section.
The other options are User defined and all temperature variables from the physics interfaces included in the model.
This model input does not override the Reference temperature Tref set in the Physical Model section of the physics interface, which is used to evaluate the reference enthalpy, and a reference density for incompressible nonisothermal flows.
Temperature
This section is available when material properties are temperature-dependent. By default, the temperature of the parent interface is used and the section is not editable. To edit the Temperature field, click Make All Model Inputs Editable (). The available options are: User defined (default), Common model input (the minput.T variable, set to 293.15 K by default) and all temperature variables from the physics interfaces included in the model. To edit the minput.T variable, click the Go to Source button (), and in the Default Model Inputs node under Global Definitions, set a value for the Temperature in the Expression for remaining selection section.
Relative Humidity
This section contains an input for the definition of the relative humidity, which is used in the right hand side of Equation 6-4.
The default Relative humidity ϕw is User defined. When additional physics interfaces are added to the model, the relative humidity variables defined by these physics interfaces can also be selected from the list. For example, if a Moisture Transport interface is added, you can select Relative humidity (mt/pm1) from the list. The Common model input option is the variable minput.phi, set to 0 by default. To edit it, click the Go to Source button (), and in the Default Model Inputs node under Global Definitions, set a value for the Relative humidity in the Expression for remaining selection section.
If the node was added automatically after selecting the predefined multiphysics interface Heat and Moisture Transport, the relative humidity of the multiphysics node Heat and Moisture is used by default and the section is not editable. To edit the Relative humidity field, click Make All Model Inputs Editable ().
Heat Conduction
This section provides two options for defining the effective thermal conductivity keff:
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When Equivalent thermal conductivity is selected (default), a value for the Effective thermal conductivity keff should be specified directly. The default Effective thermal conductivity is taken From material. For User defined, select Isotropic, Diagonal, Symmetric, or Full based on the characteristics of the thermal conductivity, and enter another value or expression. For Isotropic, enter a scalar which will be used to define a diagonal tensor. For the other options, enter values or expressions into the editable fields of the tensor.
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When Dry material thermal conductivity is selected, the effective thermal conductivity is defined as a function of the properties of the solid matrix and moisture:
This definition neglects the contribution due to the variation in the volume fraction of moist air.
The Dry solid thermal conductivity ks (SI unit: W/(m·K)) and the Thermal conductivity supplement b (dimensionless) should be specified. By default, the Dry solid thermal conductivity and Thermal conductivity supplement are taken From material. For User defined, enter values or expressions in the editable fields.
The Density ρs and the Moisture storage function w(ϕw) are specified in the Thermodynamics, Dry Solid and Building Material Properties sections respectively.
Thermodynamics, Dry Solid
This section defines the thermodynamics properties of the dry solid.
The specific heat capacity describes the amount of thermal energy required to produce a unit temperature change in a unit mass of the dry solid material.
The Density ρs and the Specific heat capacity Cp,s should be specified. The default Density and Specific heat capacity are taken From material. For User defined, enter values or expressions in the editable fields.
The effective volumetric heat capacity at constant pressure is defined to take into account both the properties of the solid matrix and the moisture:
where
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ρs (SI unit: kg/m3) is the density of the dry solid.
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 Cp,s (SI unit: J/(kg·K)) is the specific heat capacity of the dry solid.
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 w(ϕw) (SI unit: kg/m3) is the water content given by a moisture storage function.
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Cp,w (SI unit: J/(kg·K)) is the heat capacity of water at constant pressure.
Building Material Properties
This section defines the properties of the building material for moisture storage and vapor diffusion.
The Moisture storage function w(ϕw) should be set to characterize the relationship between the amount of water accumulated and the relative humidity in the material. The default Moisture storage function is taken From material. For User defined, enter another value or expression.
Two options are available for the specification of vapor diffusion properties of building materials:
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Vapor permeability (default) to define directly the vapor permeability δp. The default Vapor permeability is taken From material. For User defined, select Isotropic, Diagonal, or Symmetric based on the vapor permeability characteristics, and enter values or expressions for the tensor components.
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Vapor resistance factor μ to define the vapor permeability δp as:
where δ (SI unit: s) is the vapor permeability of still air. The default Vapor resistance factor is taken From material. For User defined, enter another value or expression.
If the node was added automatically after selecting the predefined multiphysics interface Heat and Moisture Transport, the building material properties of the multiphysics node Heat and Moisture are used by default and the inputs are not editable. To edit these fields, click Make All Model Inputs Editable () in the Model Inputs section.
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The Heat Transfer in Building Materials Interface
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The Heat and Moisture Transport Interfaces
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Heat and Moisture
See Building Material Library in the COMSOL Multiphysics Reference Manual for a description of materials containing the thermal and hygroscopic properties required by the Building Material node.
The Building Material node is defined in the spatial frame. The material properties should be entered in the spatial frame, and coupling with a moving frame interface is not supported. See Handling Frames in Heat Transfer for more details.
For a detailed overview of the functionality available in each product, visit https://www.comsol.com/products/specifications/
Location in User Interface
Context Menus
 Heat Transfer in Solids and Fluids>Specific Media>Building Material
Heat Transfer in Solids>Specific Media>Building Material
Heat Transfer in Fluids>Specific Media>Building Material
Heat Transfer in Porous Media>Specific Media>Building Material
Heat Transfer in Building Materials>Specific Media>Building Material
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Physics tab with Heat Transfer in Solids and Fluids, Heat Transfer in Solids, Heat Transfer in Fluids, Heat Transfer in Porous Media, or Heat Transfer in Building Materials selected:
Domains>Specific Media>Building Material