IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v175y2016icp180-188.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191630592X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Szabó, J. & Kajtár, L. & Nyers, J. & Bokor, B., 2016. "A new approach and results of wall and air temperature dynamic analysis in underground spaces," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 520-527.
    2. Dodoo, Ambrose & Gustavsson, Leif & Tettey, Uniben Y.A., 2017. "Final energy savings and cost-effectiveness of deep energy renovation of a multi-storey residential building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 563-576.
    3. Chau, C.K. & Xu, J.M. & Leung, T.M. & Ng, W.Y., 2017. "Evaluation of the impacts of end-of-life management strategies for deconstruction of a high-rise concrete framed office building," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1595-1603.
    4. Svetlana Pushkar & Abraham Yezioro, 2022. "External Shading Devices: Should the Energy Standard Be Supplemented with a Production Stage?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, October.
    5. Luca Evangelisti & Claudia Guattari & Paola Gori & Roberto De Lieto Vollaro, 2015. "In Situ Thermal Transmittance Measurements for Investigating Differences between Wall Models and Actual Building Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-11, August.
    6. Matthew Collins & John Curtis, 2017. "Value for money in energy efficiency retrofits in Ireland: grant provider and grant recipients," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(51), pages 5245-5267, November.
    7. Kai Jiao & Lin Lu & Liang Zhao & Gang Wang, 2024. "Towards Passive Building Thermal Regulation: A State-of-the-Art Review on Recent Progress of PCM-Integrated Building Envelopes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-27, July.
    8. Eduardo Roque & Romeu Vicente & Ricardo M. S. F. Almeida & Victor M. Ferreira, 2022. "The Impact of Thermal Inertia on the Indoor Thermal Environment of Light Steel Framing Constructions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Hong, Taehoon & Kim, Jimin & Lee, Minhyun, 2019. "A multi-objective optimization model for determining the building design and occupant behaviors based on energy, economic, and environmental performance," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 823-834.
    10. Barbetta, Gian Paolo & Canino, Paolo & Cima, Stefano, 2015. "The impact of energy audits on energy efficiency investment of public owners. Evidence from Italy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 1199-1209.
    11. Serenay Kara & Savas Erdem & Roberto Alonso González Lezcano, 2021. "MgO-Based Cementitious Composites for Sustainable and Energy Efficient Building Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    12. Lešnik, Maja & Premrov, Miroslav & Žegarac Leskovar, Vesna, 2018. "Design parameters of the timber-glass upgrade module and the existing building: Impact on the energy-efficient refurbishment process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1125-1138.
    13. Yuyao Ye & Changjian Wang & Yuling Zhang & Kangmin Wu & Qitao Wu & Yongxian Su, 2017. "Low-Carbon Transportation Oriented Urban Spatial Structure: Theory, Model and Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    14. de Rubeis, Tullio & Nardi, Iole & Ambrosini, Dario & Paoletti, Domenica, 2018. "Is a self-sufficient building energy efficient? Lesson learned from a case study in Mediterranean climate," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 131-145.
    15. Kamel, Ehsan & Memari, Ali M., 2018. "Automated Building Energy Modeling and Assessment Tool (ABEMAT)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 15-24.
    16. Yung Yau & Huiying (Cynthia) Hou & Ka Chi Yip & Queena Kun Qian, 2021. "Transaction Cost and Agency Perspectives on Eco-Certification of Existing Buildings: A Study of Hong Kong," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, October.
    17. Li, Yaoming & Zhang, Qi & Liu, Boyu & McLellan, Benjamin & Gao, Yuan & Tang, Yanyan, 2018. "Substitution effect of New-Energy Vehicle Credit Program and Corporate Average Fuel Consumption Regulation for Green-car Subsidy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 223-236.
    18. Nadine May & Edeltraud Guenther & Peer Haller, 2017. "Environmental Indicators for the Evaluation of Wood Products in Consideration of Site-Dependent Aspects: A Review and Integrated Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-31, October.
    19. Ye Li & Shixuan Li & Shiyao Xia & Bojia Li & Xinyu Zhang & Boyuan Wang & Tianzhen Ye & Wandong Zheng, 2023. "A Review on the Policy, Technology and Evaluation Method of Low-Carbon Buildings and Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-43, February.
    20. Gupta, V. & Deb, C., 2023. "Envelope design for low-energy buildings in the tropics: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:175:y:2016:i:c:p:180-188. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.