Ten Years Study Of The Hygrothermal Behaviour Of The Prado Museum'S Roof

In the current paper we present the results of the monitoring of the hygrothermal behaviour during the last ten years of the El Prado Museum roof. Sensors were installed in the south roof of the museum after it underwent mayor repair following a leak over a very important exhibition hall (the one holding Velazquez's Las Meninas painting). The liquid water sensors reveal that water is retained at the waterproofing layer. These sensors do not show water presence in lower layers of the roof. The humidity sensors show condensation when the ambient temperature drops. The temperature sensors show the insulating capacity of the different layers of the roof, which effectively attenuate the outside temperature changes. The strain sensors placed on the liquid waterproofing layer show a constant increase of strain with time. In summary, the repaired roof can be considered to perform as intended and no more leaks have been detected.