Service life of wooden materials – Mathematical modelling as a tool for evaluating the development of mould and decay

Durability is defined "The ability of a product to maintain its required performance over a given time, under the influence of foreseeable actions, subject to normal maintenance". During their functional life, building components are exposed to moisture and other environment hazards in numerous ways, a fact that must be taken into account during manufacture and product development. For mould and decay development, different mathematical modelling exists based on laboratory and field studies. These can be used also for evaluating the different material properties for durability and service life of wooden products. In the future, the life time expectations and analyses of different building products will need more data on the durability of products, service life and resistance against mould and decay, not only data on wood material itself. The mould and decay models can be incorporated with climatic and building physic models to evaluate the effect of different exposure conditions on the durability and service life of wooden products. This paper presents state-of-art on modelling mould and decay of wooden structures exposed to climatic conditions