4th Generation Watertightness

Up to now, three strategies have already been used to manage rain penetration through the building envelope: mass buffering, face-sealed or perfect barrier principle and rain screen or drained principle. However, water leakage through building components and interfaces is still ranked as one of the most occurring defects in buildings e.g. at window-wall interfaces, at joints between façade panels, in External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS), ...

The objective of this research project is to gain insight into the infiltration rates that can be expected for a certain wall assembly in order to be able to relate these infiltration rates to the necessary drainage capacity of the system. Based on this knowledge, quantitative and qualitative guidelines can be established for a new generation of water tightness concepts and more efficient choices can be made concerning a certain water tightness system.

Project Info

Research group: Building Physics
Start date: 2016
Researcher: Stéphanie Van Linden