A dynamic modelling approach for simulating climate change impact on energy and hygrothermal performances of wood buildings

paper presents an improved physics based dynamic modelling approach to simulating wooden buildings’ hygrothermal performances under climate change. As the only mainstream renewable building material, wood is widely used in buildings especially in Europe and Northern America. The proposed model is intended to be efficient and adaptable to address one of the major challenges in climate change research: some uncertainties prevail now but will be resolved gradually as time passes. The applicability and practicality of the model are illustrated and tested by a wooden church equipped with well designed and high precision measurements. Model predictions and forecasts are in good agreement to the measurements despite the description of the dynamic model is simple. The model is further applied to a future projection of climate indoors to examine future climate impacts on buildings and to assess the climatic suitability of wood for providing a mechanism that can facilitate the reduction of climate risks and be more resilient to global warming. The paper suggests that wood building materials offer an effective and resilient response to anticipated future climate changes. While predominantly focused on wooden buildings, the model is general enough for other types of buildings.