An Analytical Method for the Determination of the Climatic Distance between Different Microclimates for the Conservation of Wooden Cultural Heritage Objects

"This paper describes a statistical methodological approach for the comparison of different microclimates. This method was developedas a tool for choosing a new microclimate for temporary moves. At the present stage of development, this method is not intended tobe used for identifying harmful conditions. The proposed method is based on experimental evidence indicating that the sensitivityof wooden objects to environmental fluctuations can differ from object to object, depending on many physical and mechanicalparameters. Some objects could be affected by fluctuations that would not be significant for other objects. The parameter adopted inthis work is equilibrium moisture content, that is the equilibrium value that a wooden object would tend to maintain under stabletemperature and relative humidity values for a long period of time. It must be considered potential because in a fluctuating climateit is never reached. The methodology is based on two parts. The first describes in a mathematically simplified way how climateis perceived by objects with different sensitivities. The second analyzes the climatic distance between different climatic data setsusing the mathematical technique of principal components analysis, according to the previously defined object s sensitivity. As a testof the proposed method, four different microclimatic cases studies are analyzed and the results described."