Effect of building materials on temperature evolution inside the premises in Algeria

Abstract

The  building  sector  is  partially  in  charge  of  the exhaustion of  conventional  energy  sources,  global  warming,  and environmental   pollution.   This   experimental   investigation   is devoted  to  the  study  of  the  thermal behaviourof  three  different building   materials   used   in   Algeria,   namely   sheep    wool, traditional brick, and ordinary brick, under real conditions. Three identical chambers were built made of the above-citedmaterials. Three  temperature  sensors  were  placed  in  the center of  the  three chambers,  which  were  aligned  and  separated  by  approximately 10 cm. The digital acquisition system based on the Arduino board allows us to measure and record temperatures in the middle of the three  well-closed  rooms  for  one  day  (day  and  night)  by  one-minute   steps.   The   temperature   of   the   ambient   air   (outdoor temperature),used  as  areference,  wastaken  too.  It  is  found  that the   thermo-physical   properties   (thermal   diffusivity)   of   the building  materials,  in  addition  to  the  thickness  of  the  building envelope  (walls  and  roof),  play  an  important  role  in  the  heat exchangebetween  the  indoor  and  outdoor. This  study  aims  to encourage the reuse of the traditional bricks seen their advantages in energy saving and environmental preservation.