Finite element modelling of coupled heat and moisture transfer in typical earth-sheltered building envelope

It is necessary to do research on the heat and moisture transfer in the earth-sheltered building for getting a better underground environment. Based on Philips and De Vries’ and Zhang’s theory (Philip et al., 1957; Zhang et al., 2006), this paper establishes a detailed 2-D transient mathematical model to understand the heat and moisture transfer exactly in the earth-sheltered building envelope and the surrounding soils. A general FEM (Finite Element Method) software is adopted to solve the highly nonlinear governing equations. The numerical simulation showed that the existence of waterproof layer makes the temperature field continuous and the moisture field discontinuous. The results may afford the basis of heat and moisture load calculation for the earth-sheltered building.