The aid of TRNSYS simulation for the conservation of an artwork: a case study

Due to secularization more and more churches lose their original function, that is a place to worship, and become a place of cultural interest. To fulfil the comfort demands, a heating system or a HVAC-system was installed. These systems however impose new boundary conditions for the interior objects like paintings,. which may lead to damage. The case of the Saint-Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium is presented in this paper. In this church hangs the valuable polyptic 'The adoration of the mystic Lamb' painted by van Eyck. Use was made of a computer simulation to get insight in the working of different solutions to combine comfort and preservation. Because we want to be able in first instance to evaluate a whole year, a BES-software, was used. Using the dynamic simulation code TRNSYS the system performance in controlling thermal-hygrometric ambient parameters were obtained