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Adaptation of rammed earth to modern construction systems: Comparative study of thermal behavior under summer conditions

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  • Serrano, Susana
  • de Gracia, Alvaro
  • Cabeza, Luisa F.

Abstract

Buildings should be understood as a process that consumes energy in all their phases (design, construction, use and end-of-life) and, more specifically, the building envelope is clearly involved in all of them. For this reason, the International Energy Agency defines in its latest publication the improvement of building envelopes as one of the key points to reduce the energy consumption in buildings. In the present study, two sustainable construction systems based on rammed earth walls are adapted to modern requirements to be thermally tested and compared against three Mediterranean conventional systems under summer conditions. The experimentation was done by performing several experiments in free floating and controlled temperature conditions at real scale in five cubicle-shape buildings with inner dimensions 2.4×2.4×2.4m. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that more sustainable construction systems can be used instead of conventional ones, with higher embodied energy, and achieve similar thermal response. Results show that the reduction of rammed earth wall thickness strongly penalizes its thermal behavior. However, similar thermal response than conventional systems is reached when 6cm of wooden insulation panels are added in the outer face of the cubicle-shape building.

Suggested Citation

  • Serrano, Susana & de Gracia, Alvaro & Cabeza, Luisa F., 2016. "Adaptation of rammed earth to modern construction systems: Comparative study of thermal behavior under summer conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 180-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:175:y:2016:i:c:p:180-188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stazi, Francesca & Tomassoni, Elisa & Bonfigli, Cecilia & Di Perna, Costanzo, 2014. "Energy, comfort and environmental assessment of different building envelope techniques in a Mediterranean climate with a hot dry summer," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 176-196.
    2. B.V. Venkatarama Reddy, 2009. "Sustainable materials for low carbon buildings," International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 175-181, June.
    3. Friedman, Chanoch & Becker, Nir & Erell, Evyatar, 2014. "Energy retrofit of residential building envelopes in Israel: A cost-benefit analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 183-193.
    4. Ip, Kenneth & Miller, Andrew, 2009. "Thermal behaviour of an earth-sheltered autonomous building – The Brighton Earthship," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2037-2043.
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    Cited by:

    1. Giada Giuffrida & Maurizio Detommaso & Francesco Nocera & Rosa Caponetto, 2021. "Design Optimisation Strategies for Solid Rammed Earth Walls in Mediterranean Climates," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Ben-Alon, L. & Loftness, V. & Harries, K.A. & Cochran Hameen, E., 2021. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of natural vs conventional building assemblies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Qinglong Gao & Tao Wu & Lei Liu & Yong Yao & Bin Jiang, 2022. "Prediction of Wall and Indoor Hygrothermal Properties of Rammed Earth Folk House in Northwest Sichuan," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Mu, Jun & Yu, Shenwei & Hao, Shimeng, 2023. "Quantitative evaluation of thermal conductivity of earth materials with different particle size distributions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Ariadna Carrobé & Lídia Rincón & Ingrid Martorell, 2021. "Thermal Monitoring and Simulation of Earthen Buildings. A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-47, April.
    6. Anna Laura Pisello & Claudia Fabiani & Nastaran Makaremi & Veronica Lucia Castaldo & Gianluca Cavalaglio & Andrea Nicolini & Marco Barbanera & Franco Cotana, 2016. "Sustainable New Brick and Thermo-Acoustic Insulation Panel from Mineralization of Stranded Driftwood Residues," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-20, August.
    7. Shenwei Yu & Shimeng Hao & Jun Mu & Dongwei Tian & Mosha Zhao, 2022. "Research on Optimization of the Thermal Performance of Composite Rammed Earth Construction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-23, February.

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