Water uptake in clay brick at different temperatures: Experiments and numerical simulations

Water penetration in porous materials is ubiquitous to building envelopes subjected to environmental conditions. Such liquid uptake can occur at different temperatures. The effect of temperature on liquid uptake is investigated in the range of 5°C–55°C in this work. Experiments are performed in controlled conditions, and the rising water front is monitored through electrical conductivity measurements along the height of the samples. The effect of temperature on the uptake process is further studied by numerical simulations, validated with the experiments. In modeling, although directly taking into account the temperature dependence of liquid viscosity is preferable, simply taking into account the temperature dependence of saturation vapor pressure seems to be sufficient.