Case Study: Vahanen Group achieves frost-damage prevention and safer renovation decisions with COMSOL Multiphysics

Using Multiphysics Simulation to Prevent Building Damage

Vahanen Group (Finland), a building services and quality-assessment firm, needed to assess frost-damage risk to concrete foundations during renovations—particularly whether removing underground heating pipes or changing insulation would require adding external frost protection. To make confident, cost-effective recommendations, building specialist Pauli Sekki used Comsol Multiphysics to simulate coupled heat and moisture behavior in the foundation, insulation layers, soil, and heating pipe.

Using Comsol, Sekki ran models for typical (≈14,000 FDH) and extreme (≈40,000 FDH) winters and compared original and renovated scenarios. The simulations showed that removing the pipe and replacing wood wool cement board (WWCB) with EPS could let ground temperatures fall to ~0.5°C in a typical year and down to −4°C in an extreme winter—putting the foundation at high risk—whereas the original configuration stayed above freezing. Comsol’s results enabled Vahanen to recommend targeted additional insulation, avoid unsafe or unnecessary work, and quantify risk with clear temperature and freezing-degree-hour metrics.

Vahanen

Pauli Sekki

Building Specialist