Heat, Air, and Moisture Transport Properties of Several North American Bricks and Mortar Mixes

Hygrothermal models are emerging as practical building design tools. These models require a set of reliable inputs to provide results that are meaningful to the designers. One of these inputs is the set of heat, air and moisture transport properties of materials. For any given class of building materials the properties may vary within a broad range. This paper reports the porosity, density, matrix density, thermal conductivity, equilibrium moisture content, water vapor permeability, water absorption coefficient, liquid diffusivity and air permeability of six types of bricks and four mortar mixes that are commonly used in North America. The experimental and analytical procedures follow either international standards or well-established methodologies.