Ferreira, M.;
Grau-Bové, J.;
Blades, N.;
O'Hagan, L.;
Altamirano, H.;
(2024)
The causes of air movement in hidden indoor micro-environments: measurements in historic bookshelves.
UCL Open: Environment
, 6
, Article 10. 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.1976.
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Abstract
The use of ventilation holes in small micro-environments has been proposed by the National Trust as a mechanism to improve the environmental conditions of moisture and temperature within bookshelves. At one National Trust historic property, this mechanism has been used to encourage air movement behind books as a possible strategy to reduce the risk of mould growth. It is believed that including ventilation holes as a passive design solution to promote airflow within micro-environments could prevent decay from occurring in the archives of historic buildings. This paper investigates the mechanisms that cause airflow behind bookshelves using field measurements in three National Trust historic libraries. The measurements indicate that small but measurable velocities, up to 4 cm/s, can be passively generated behind bookshelves. Air movement in such confined micro-environments is probably caused by a combination of natural convection, caused by temperature differences between the walls and the interior and the exterior of the bookshelf, and forced convection due to drafts in the surrounding environment. While in some cases one mechanism prevailed, both mechanisms may be present simultaneously in most cases. Further research is needed to clarify how surface temperature drives air motion behind shelves.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The causes of air movement in hidden indoor micro-environments: measurements in historic bookshelves |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.1976 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.1976 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Keywords: | air movement, historic buildings, preventive conservation, micro-environment, mould |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216524 |
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