THERMAL PROPERTIES OF AN ADOBE BRICK WALL:

 ADAPTING TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES TO CONTEMPORARY LIVING STANDARDS

 

Florescu Elena Roxana¹*, Bica Smaranda Maria²

¹Arch. PhD student,”Politehnica” University Timișoara, Faculty of Architecture, florescu.roxana_arh@yahoo.com

² Prof. Dr. Arch.,”Politehnica” University Timișoara, Faculty of Architecture, smaranda.bica@upt.ro

*Corresponding author

Abstract

In the current context, the degree of comfort imposed by housing standards has become a pressing issue in making efficient materials and technologies. With the introduction of the sustainability factor in the field of construction, new issues appeared related to the life cycle of the materials used. Earth has a substantial energy input, taking into account the thermal insulating capacity. Given the great flexibility in implementation, earth is also a durable material that can be easily adapted to local conditions in different climates.

Earth can serve as a significant heat reservoir due to the thermal properties inherent in the massive walls typical for this type of construction technique. The walls require a large and relatively long input from the sun (radiation) and from the surrounding air (convection) before they get warm through to the interior. These properties recommend it in achieving adequate thermal comfort using ecofriendly resources.

Adobe was among the earliest building techniques, used mainly in the second period of colonization in the Banat area. The case study starts from the existing build fund and is concretized by the comparative analysis of possible stratifications to solve the thermal comfort inside a new home constructed using the adobe technique. The methodological approach was to compare different specific stratifications to collect the primary data in a quantitative computer based simulation procedure. Therefore, it is desired to adapt an old building technology to current standards by proposing specific thermal insulations and stratifications. According to the simulation procedure, more energy is expended on heating in winter, because of the high U-value and permeability of its organic composition.

Keywords: Sustainability, earth constructions, thermal properties, specific stratification.