Abstract
Rammed earth buildings are normally perceived to have desirable thermal performance due to the thermal mass effect of the walls; however, this can only be achieved when other design strategies are taken into account such as insulation, double glazing, shading and ventilation. This paper reports on a study of the impact of using rammed earth walls on the indoor temperatures in a non-heated or cooled hypothetical house by using a thermal simulation program. The predicted indoor operative temperatures are compared to the acceptable operative indoor temperatures based on the Adaptive Comfort Standard in ASHRAE 55-20113. The building was considered in three Australian climate zones (zones 3, 5 and 7) representing hot arid, warm temperate and cool temperate climates, respectively.The effect of four design parameters on the indoor temperatures of this hypothetical uninsulated rammed earth wall house was evaluated, including the influence of window size, shading, ventilation rate and wall thickness. It was found that a house constructed of uninsulated rammed earth with a typical wall thickness of 300 mm in climate zones 3, 5 and 7 can only achieve indoor operative temperatures that are within the 80% acceptability limits based on the adaptive model for 77%, 68% and 45% of the time, respectively, if the window size, shading and ventilation rate are optimised. With a 30 mm thick layer of polystyrene insulation inserted into the middle of the rammed earth walls, these performance values can be further increased to 89%, 90% and 58% respectively.
Published Version
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