Combined Heat, Air and Moisture Transfer (HAMT) simulations are useful when one needs to investigate the transient hygrothermal performance of buildings and building components, with a special focus on moisture transfer and storage both in vapor and liquid form. This allows, for instance, to predict possible moisture-related damage either in wood-based materials (or other organic moisture-sensitive ones) or in historical buildings. HAMT simulations can be also used to quantify heat losses in thermal bridges.

HAMT simulations tools numerically solve combined heat and mass balances in 1D or 2D geometries over medium-to-long time spans, and require the availability of reliable updated weather data. The results (in terms of temperature, relative humidity, and moisture content in the various wall layers) can be post-processed to assess a series of risk indicators widely available in the literature, while also investigating the effectiveness of possible mitigation strategies, such as waterproof and vapour-open membranes.

The most commonly HAMT simulation tools are listed and described at the following link:

http://www.ibpsa-italy.org/en/software-en/heat-and-mass-transfer.html