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PLEA2006 - The 23 Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006

A Comparative Study of the Thermal Performance of

Building Materials

Soofia T. Elias-Ozkan1, Francoise Summers1, Nesen Surmeli1 and

Simos Yannas2
1
Department of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
E-mail: [email protected]
2
Environment & Energy Studies Programme, Architectural Association Graduate School,
34-36, Bedford Square, London, UK
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the environmental performance of a selection of buildings in the
typical Central Anatolian village of Şahmuratli in Turkey. The objective was to search for affordable
and energy-efficient construction techniques suitable for rural settlements and incorporating
traditional cultural values in a semi-arid upland region characterised by long severe winters and hot,
dry summers. This was pursued by analysing temperature and humidity measurements within
buildings constructed from a variety of traditional and modern materials. The thermal behaviour and
comfort, the patterns of energy use and the appropriateness of the different building techniques and
materials are analysed, compared and discussed. Aspects of this ongoing study, initiated by a British
Council Partnership Programme, are presented in this paper which focuses on a traditional mudbrick
structure, a straw bale house and an aerated concrete building. We demonstrate how a building
envelope reacts to outdoor conditions through graphic illustration and show ways in which the
research can be extended by the creation of simulations using Ecotect software. This research
contributes to the promotion of passive and low energy architecture towards a sustainable future.

Keywords: energy, comfort, straw bales

1. INTRODUCTION 2. EVALUATING THERMAL PERFORMANCE

Due to their inherent properties, different building This study focuses mainly on the thermal
materials respond differently to climatic conditions. performance of a traditional mud brick structure, a
The thermal properties of building components such straw bale house and an under-construction aerated
as walls, ceiling and floors together determine the concrete building (Figures 2, 3 and 5). In order to
energy consumption patterns and comfort conditions compare their environmental performance,
in an enclosed space. temperature and humidity measurements were taken
In order to test their thermal properties certain in the hollow brick, mud-brick and straw bale buildings
building materials have been used to construct a as well as the prefabricated structure on site (Figure
group of buildings that house various activities at the 4). However, performance of the incomplete aerated
Kerkenes Eco-Center. This Center is located in the concrete structure was evaluated on the basis of
central Anatolian village of Shahmuratli in the Turkish computer simulations only.
province of Yozgat (latitude 40˚ N). Figure 1 displays
the climatic characteristics of the study area.
The dominant climate in Yozgat is the semi-arid
upland climate, which is characterised by cold winters
and warm summers. Winter outdoor air temperatures
are near or below freezing in December and January,
and stay well below thermal comfort values for much
of the period between October and April.
Various building materials, such as factory
produced extruded hollow brick, concrete blocks, sun
dried mud-brick and aerated concrete blocks have
been used for construction works in the Eco-Center.
In addition to these conventional building materials,
other material such as straw bales, papercrete and Figure 1: Diurnal averages of outdoor air
recyclable waste (like bottles, cans and tires) are also temperature and solar radiation, for Yozgat, plotted
being experimented with and tested for their against thermal neutrality bands.
environmental performance as building material.
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PLEA2006 - The 23 Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006

Figure 2: Building with straw bales. A: Plan of straw bale building

Figure 3: Building with mudbrick B: Plan of mudbrick building

Figure 4: Prefabricated building C: Plan of prefabricated building

KEY:

Stove

Tiny Tag dataloggers

N
(North direction for all the three building
plans above)

Figure 6: Plans of the buildings under study, at the

Kerkenes Eco-Center, showing placement of stoves
Figure 5 : Building with Aerated Concrete and and data-loggers.
reinforced concrete frame
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PLEA2006 - The 23 Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006

2.1 Research Material building materials, to calculate the overall thermal

Of the two indigenous materials, mud brick has resistance of the system. Hourly values of incident
been used widely in rural areas of Central Anatolia. It and diffused solar radiation and outdoor temperature
is environmentally appropriate since it not only were used to simulate indoor temperatures and
possesses high thermal capacity, which is desirable heating and cooling loads of the building. These loads
for creating heat sinks in extreme weather conditions, took into account heat gains due to solar energy,
but is also recyclable. Yet, factory produced extruded occupancy rates, heat storage in the building fabric,
hollow brick and concrete blocks are gaining more and convective coupling between adjacent rooms, as
popularity as they are readily available, easy to build well as heat transferred through the external
with and easy to maintain. envelope. The simulations were performed with
Straw, which is an agricultural waste, can also be recorded weather data for a typical year in Yozgat.
used as a building material. Traditionally, it is mixed For this purpose the test unit, the mud brick building,
with clay or soil to produce mud brick. However, since was first modelled in ECOTECT, and then thermal
the past few years, it is being considered as a primary properties of the constructional elements were varied
building material, since it is easy to obtain, easy to in order to measure the effect of these changes on
build with, suitable for earthquake zones and the thermal comfort of the occupants. It should be
possesses good insulation properties. On the other noted here that for this simulation study, wall
hand, it is not dense enough to store heat in the thickness was kept constant for all materials.
building fabric, nor is it suitable for higher structures.
The third material being studied this season
(2006) is autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC), which 3. DATA ANALYSIS
is a contemporary building material that, in spite of its
high cost, is becoming increasingly popular due to its Data were collected under un-heated conditions
highly desirable properties of fire-proofing and for a 40 day period from the 30th of July until the 9th of
thermal insulation. AAC building blocks and panels September, 2005; and for heated conditions, for a 21
are light weight, modular and facilitate speedy day period from the 5th to the 26th of March 2006.
construction.
3.1 Behaviour of un-heated spaces
2.2 Data collection For the sake of clarity, temperature and humidity
The thermal behaviour of the aforementioned measurements for only three days are presented
th th
building materials was studied in two ways: first by graphically i.e. from 25 to 28 August 2005 for Straw
taking actual measurements on site, and then, by bale and Mud-brick, and from 8th to 11th August 2005
simulating the conditions with the help of the energy for Straw bale and Prefabricated buildings. The
simulation software ECOTECT 5.2. reason why data for the three buildings, along with
For the first part of the study, temperature and the external conditions, could not be recorded
humidity measurements were taken with the help of concurrently was that during this period only three
Tinytag data loggers, in both unheated as well as data loggers were available for the research. The
heated spaces. For each set of data, one data logger charts in Figures 7 and 8 demonstrate the typical
was placed outside in a shaded area protected from behaviour of mud-brick, straw bale and prefabricated
direct sunlight and rain, while the others were placed buildings under un-heated conditions. It is known from
inside the buildings to record external and internal previous studies that due to their thermal insulation
temperatures concurrently. and/or thermal mass properties, straw bale and mud
At first, the data loggers were placed in the brick structures require comparatively less energy to
buildings without any auxiliary heating. Data thus sustain thermal comfort conditions. Furthermore,
collected could help demonstrate how the building temperature fluctuations within buildings made of
envelope performed in terms of its insulation and these material are also kept at a minimum; hence, it
thermal inertia properties, under natural conditions. was observed that internal temperatures in the mud-
For the second round of measurements, the brick and straw bale buildings remained fairly stable
hollow brick, mud brick, straw bale, and prefabricated despite external diurnal fluctuations.
buildings were heated with a fixed amount of coal and In addition to temperature, humidity data was also
wood, which is the conventional fuel in rural areas, for collected simultaneously, which in turn showed that
a certain period of time. The aim was to observe and fluctuations in external humidity levels do not affect
compare the thermal behaviour of these buildings humidity levels within the mud-brick and straw bale
under natural weather conditions, with that exhibited structures significantly; since these levels also
during auxiliary heating periods. The location of data- remained quite stable throughout. On the other hand,
loggers and the stoves used for heating the spaces is the prefabricated structure responded more to
shown in Figure 6 above. It should be noted here that external fluctuations in temperature and humidity.
the amount of fuel burnt was not in direct proportion Moreover, humidity levels in the mud-brick building
to the volume of the spaces to be heated but a were the least, followed by those in the straw bale
constant predetermined amount; hence, further house; while the prefabricated structure had the
adjustments would be necessary to eliminate this highest level of humidity.
indiscrepancy.
The second part of the study comprised of
computer modelling, which simply used known
thermal resistance values of the various layers of
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PLEA2006 - The 23 Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006

It follows that even without providing any air

conditioning it is possible to keep internal air
temperatures of a building close to thermal comfort
levels by preventing extreme temperature conditions
and also by avoiding temperature and humidity
fluctuations, which cause discomfort to their
occupants. This can be done by taking into
consideration the thermal properties of wall materials
during the design stages.

3.2 Behaviour of heated spaces

Figure 9a and 9b show the results of an
experiment in which the hollow-brick, mud brick, straw
bale and prefabricated buildings were heated with the
same amount of coal and wood for two days at a
time; i.e. on the 6th and 7th; and 15th and 16th of March
2006. In between these days the buildings were left to
respond to the external weather conditions without
supplemental heating, in order to observe the heat
retention ability of each material.
It is important to note that the amount of coal was
not in direct proportion to the volume of the spaces
being heated; but a constant value for all four
buildings. The figures below show the behaviour of
th st
the four buildings from the 5 to the 21 of March,
2006, with respect to their responses to external
variations in temperature and humidity levels when
they are heated intermittently for a certain length of
Figure 7 a & b: Three-day temperature and time.
humidity charts for straw bale and mud brick under Mud brick is not considered to be a good thermal
un-heated conditions insulator since it possesses a high unit-mass and very
low porosity. However, its high thermal capacity is
conducive to storing the absorbed heat for a longer
period of time and releasing it back into the
surrounding space more slowly than the other
materials being investigated in this study. On the
other hand, straw bale has better thermal insulation
property.
The difference in behaviour, of mud-brick and
straw-bale, can be seen clearly on the 13th, 14th and
st
the 21 of March 2006. On these dates the effect of
heating diminishes, yet, the mud brick structure
maintains a higher internal temperature, since it re-
radiates the heat it had stored back into the room.
After this point the straw bale structure starts to be
more advantageous; this space maintains higher
internal temperatures because, although it cannot
store the absorbed heat, it can minimize or delay the
passage of heat from the warmer internal space to
the colder external one.
The prefabricated building is made with sandwich
panels of thin concrete and insulation (EPS) boards.
Despite this insulation, the thickness of the panels
does not provide enough thermal mass to store the
heat for longer periods of time; consequently, the
prefabricated building cools down very quickly. Hollow
brick is similiar in behaviour to mud-brick but does not
perform as well as straw bale.
Mud-brick and straw bale (due to its mud plaster)
are also conducive to balancing humidity levels within
the space, therefore, when the heating is stopped the
Figure 8a & b: Three-day temperature and humidity humidity levels within these buildings remain quite
charts for straw bale and prefab buildings under un- stable. On the other hand, humidity levels within the
heated conditions hollow brick and prefabricated buildings rise and
fluctuate with changes in external humidity levels.
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PLEA2006 - The 23 Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006

Figure 9a: Temperature chart showing the comparitive behaviour of buildings constructed with four different wall
materials, when heated intermittently with a (coal & wood) room heater.

Figure 9b: Humidity chart to compare the behaviour of buildings constructed with four different wall materials,
when heated intermittently with a room heater.

3.3 Simulation works. Although, simulation studies with Ecotect 5.01

Computer simulations help to analyse conditions were carried out for different months of the year,
that are not yet tested in reality and to draw results of the simulations for only two days, i.e. the
th th
conclusions based on comparisons of different 13 and 14 of January, are presented here for
building systems, prior to beginning the construction brevity. In order to compare the behaviour of the
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PLEA2006 - The 23 Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Geneva, Switzerland, 6-8 September 2006

different materials, simulation data for all of the five regard rather than those related to the properties of
wall materials, namely; aerated concrete, factory single blocks/units.
produced clay brick, insulated brick, mud brick and
straw bale, are presented together in Figure 10.
The simulations were run on a computer model of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
the mud brick building, which actually exists at the
Kerkenes Eco-centre and has an area of 10.5 m2 The authors would like to acknowledge the support of
(Figure 3). In order to ascertain the direct effect of the British Council, under its Britain-Turkey
wall materials on the thermal behaviour of the Partnership Programme.
building, only the material properties of the walls of
the unit building were altered for each run. In other
words, the wall thicknesses as well as the materials REFERENCES
and dimensions of the roof and floor constructions Summers, F., N. Gezer, T. Karagüzel, S. Yannas and
were retained as they were. For each different wall Y. Somuncu, “Comparative study of traditional and
type the U-values were calculated by assigning contemporary construction in Turkey”, Proceedings of
relevant wall components, in the programme. the 20th PLEA Conference in Santiago, Chile, 2003.

Figure 10: Hourly temperature profile for the five

types of walls, on the 13th and 14th of January.

An analysis of the simulation studies revealed that

indigenous materials have significantly better thermal
properties as compared to contemporary building
materials. A closer look at the simulation graphs
shows that for equal wall thicknesses the behaviour of
the straw bale walls are closely followed by walls
made of AAC blocks; while a mud brick wall has
nearly the same properties as an insulated brick wall.
On the other hand, a factory produced brick, with or
without insulation, costs considerably more than
locally produced mud-brick of equal size; while AAC
is the most expensive wall material available in the
market.

4. CONCLUSION

Compared to contemporary building materials with

high embodied energy, the energy required to
produce mud brick and straw bale buildings is
minimal. In addition to their energy efficient behaviour
during use, these two materials are completely bio-
degradable. They are also more appropriate and
affordable; while the main disadvantage lies in their
higher maintenance requirements.
Although there is a large and growing body of
empirical evidence that indigenous building materials
prove to be more advantageous, there are very few
scientific studies to support this claim. Tests on full
wall assemblies will prove to be more valuable in this