A discussion of “Characterization of hygrothermal properties of wood-based products – Impact of moisture content and temperature”

Abstract

In 2014, this journal published the paper “Characterization of hygrothermal properties of wood-based products – Impact of moisture content and temperature”, presenting among others the vapour permeability of wood-fibre insulation. This discussion demonstrates that the measurement, the calculation and the presentation of this vapour permeability has suffered from various errors, invalidating the obtained intrinsic vapour permeabilities of wood-fibre insulation. This discussion moreover demonstrates that several subsequent authors have furthermore misinterpreted their air-gap-corrected vapour permeabilities as intrinsic vapour permeabilities, which in turn invalidates, at least in part, these authors’ challenges to the state-of-the-art on the measurement and simulation of hygroscopic moisture transport in porous materials.