TY - JOUR A1 - Wiehle, Philipp A1 - Härder, Michelle A1 - Strangfeld, Christoph T1 - Quantification of moisture content in earth block masonry under natural climatic conditions N2 - The aim of this study is to accurately predict the moisture content in earth block masonry exposed to natural climatic conditions, which is a key factor in assessing its load-bearing capacity. Nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry and humidity sensor measurements were carried out to quantify the moisture content. In addition, a customised test setup was developed to determine the capillary water absorption of earth blocks. This approach takes into account the deceleration of water absorption due to the swelling of clay minerals and organic additives, which leads to realistic transport coefficients in the hygroscopic range. This allows the moisture content of earth block masonry to be predicted accurately. With regard to the moisture behaviour of typical exterior wall constructions in living spaces, it was found that the equilibrium moisture content in earth block masonry is always lower than 65 % relative humidity, which corresponds to the permissible limit of the recently published German design standard for load-bearing earth block masonry. KW - Earth block masonry KW - NMR relaxometry KW - Hygrothermal simulation KW - Load-bearing capacity KW - Moisture content KW - Embedded humidity sensors PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-623518 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.139513 VL - 459 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-62351 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -