May 17

Today in History
May 17

1875		The first Kentucky Derby is run in Louisville.
1881		Frederick Douglass is appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C.
Born on May 17
1444		Sandro Botticelli, painter (The Birth of Venus).
1749		Edward Jenner, physician. Energy Procedia Volume 78, November 2015, Pages 1269–1274 6th International Building Physics Conference, IBPC 2015 Open Access Conservation Climate Analysis of a Church Containing Valuable Artworks ☆ Katrien Maroya, , , Marijke Steemanb, Lien De Backera, Arnold Janssensa, Michel De Paepec  Show more doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2015.11.286 Get rights and content Under a Creative Commons license Abstract The OLV Hemelvaart church in Watervliet dates back from the 16th century and contains valuable panel paintings and wooden artefacts. They need to be preserved in a stable conservation climate. However, due to the old air heating system, the indoor climate is not stable at all. The air heating system creates sudden strong rises in temperature and due to the position of the supply and extraction grilles, the warm air is not evenly distributed throughout the church. Furthermore, the church suffers from moisture problems such as rain penetration and rising damp. In view of improvement measures to the heating system, from March 2012 to March 2014, the temperature and relative humidity was measured on different locations in the church. The ASHRAE conservation classes were used to analyze the data. Both a frequency analysis and an analysis of the short term and seasonal fluctuations of temperature and relative humidity were performed. It was found that the relative humidity of the indoor air was far too high for conservation purposes: during more than 50% of the time a value above 75% was registered in the middle of the church. During a period of two months, the church was permanently heated in order to improve the conservation climate. Compared to the intermittent heating regime, permanent heating caused a more stable climate: the relative humidity level exceeded 75% during 20% of the time, but it remained almost constantly between 60% and 75%. This was attributed to the church walls that acted as a constant moisture source during heating. Keywords Conservation climate; relative humidity; permanent heating; intermittent heating; ASHRAE Download full text in PDF Opens in a new window. Article suggestions will be shown in a dialog on return to ScienceDirect. References [1] Maroy, K. Vochtproblemen in historische gebouwen: klimaatanalyse en modellering in TRNSYS van de OLV Hemelvaartkerk te Watervliet. Master Dissertation; Faculty of engineering and Architecture, University Ghent; 2014; 24-67; (in Dutch). [2] Schellen, H. Heating monumental churches, indoor climate and preservation of cultural heritage. Delft: TU Delft; 2002. [3] D. Camuffo, A. Bernardi, G. Sturaro, A. Valentino The microclimate inside the Pollaiolo and Botticelli rooms in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence Journal of Cultural Heritage, 3 (2) (2002), pp. 155–161 Article |  PDF (542 K) | View Record in Scopus  |  Citing articles (30) [4] Mecklenburg, F. Marion Determining the acceptable ranges of relative humidity and temperature in museums and galleries, part 1. Structural response to relative humidity (2007), pp. 1–57 View Record in Scopus  |  Citing articles (1) [5] Larsen K.P. Climate control in Danish Churches. In P.T. A.K. Borcheresen (Ed), Museum Microclimates; 2007; 167-174. [6] Ankersmit, B. (2009). Klimaatwerk: richtlijnen voor het museale binnenklimaat (1 Ed. Vol. 1). Nederland: Amsterdam University Press; 2009. (in Dutch). [7] Artigas, J.A. comparison of the efficacy and costs of different approaches to climate management in Historic buildings and museums. Master Dissertation. University of Pennsylvania; 2007. ☆ Peer-review under responsibility of the CENTRO CONGRESSI INTERNAZIONALE SRL. Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 9 264 32 48. Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.