Modelling heat, moisture and contaminant transport in buildings: toward a new generation software

This paper describes a general purpose software, Florida Software for Engineering Calculations (FSEC 1.1), that is capable of solving various transport equations used in building science (e.g., combined heat and moisture transfer, fluid flow, contaminant dispersion equations, etc.). The governing equations are solved by finite element methods. General capabilities and an overview of the software structure are given. Results are presented for several types of combined heat and moisture transfer simulations: in buildings; in the presence of natural convection; in attics; in a typical wall.