Measuring the impact of extreme weather on building materials
Test equipment company Tech Rentals explains how data loggers such as the DataTaker DT605-3 are being used to measure the impact of extreme weather on building materials.
Local test equipment rental company Tech Rentals has many clients in the construction and engineering field, and was recently approached by one with a requirement to measure the impact of weather on building materials.
Extreme weather and rising global temperatures are having an increasing impact on the degradation of building materials which is providing challenges for designers and manufacturers, who need to ensure new materials or product’s are up the growing challenge. As well as for building owners and managers, who need to be able to cost effectively maintain a building during the course of its life.
In this scenario an on-site weather station was suggested, to monitor the effects over a long term of different weather patterns, with the resulting data showing how rapidly and in what way the degradation was occurring.
The equipment solution:
A weather station was assembled using a DataTaker DT605-3 data logger. The weather station collects data on solar radiation, ultraviolet radiation, surface temperatures over a gradient from blackbody to white-body surfaces, humidity, period of wetness, wind speed and direction, and rainfall. Readings from all of these sensors are continuously recorded on-site by the data logger and stored in removable emory cards.
Data is transferred from the site simply by removing the Memory cards and carrying this to the office where the data is easily downloaded to PCs for analysis.
This simple solution could assist with :
- Measuring weather exposure
- Assessing effects of solar or ultraviolet radiation
- Checking wind speed/direction
- Measuring rainfall, temperature and humidity
- Research and design
- Manufacturing of building materials
- Engineering assessments
- Property maintenance
21-Jan-2008