Abstract
The External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) is a common cladding technology that is widely used thanks to its well-known advantages. Despite previous studies dealing with ETICS durability in real-building case studies or involving accelerated ageing tests in climatic chambers, little progress has been made in the knowledge of the long-term durability of the system. In order to realize optimized maintenance plans for this component, the durability of the whole system, and of the most-used insulating materials for the ETICS (i.e., cork, polyurethane, rock wool, glass wool, grey EPS, and fiberfill wood), has been investigated. Based on previous experiments on ageing cycles, different climatic chambers were used to accelerate performance decay by simulating natural outdoor exposure in order to assess different physical and thermal characteristics (thermal transmittance, decrement factor, time shift, water absorption, thermal resistance, and conductivity). Recorded trends show that materials with lower thermal conductivity exhibit lower performance decay, and vice versa. The durability of the ETICS with different insulating materials (as the only variable in the different samples) was evaluated in order to quantify service life and then correctly plan maintenance interventions. Life-cycle assessment must take into account service life and durability for each material of the system. A higher durability of insulating materials allows for the execution of less maintenance interventions, with the loss of less performance over time. This study shows the physical and thermal behavior of the ETICS during its service life, comparing the differences induced by the most-used insulating materials. As a result of accelerated ageing cycles, the analyzed ETICS reveals a low grade of decay and measured performances show little degradation; for thermal conductivity, differences between the measured and the declared conductivities by technical datasheet were observed.
Highlights
Considering that the main objective of the research is to provide a relative comparison of the role played by the insulating material for the durability of an External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS), six samples were realized by keeping the same stratigraphy while varying the insulating material among grey expanded polystyrene, wood fiberfill, polyurethane, cork, glass wool, and rock wool
Realization of ETICS samples by varying the insulating material among grey expanded polystyrene (EPS), PU, GW, MW, ICB, and Wood fiberboard (WF), without varying the other layers; Collection of data related to an in-use ETICS with an adequate population, with the same stratigraphy as the sampled ETICS; characterization of the in-use ETICS
This research accounts for previous studies dealing with many different methods for evaluating ETICS performance decay in order to design a new, more complete one, and to define an adequate strategy for building maintenance
Summary
The reduction of energy consumption and the environmental impacts of any productive activity are two of the most critical challenges of sustainable human development. It is known that the use of buildings and the construction sector accounted for 36% of final energy use [1]. Around 77% of the global final energy demand in buildings is for heating and cooling end-uses, including space heating and cooling, water heating, and cooking. The only remaining final energy demand in buildings (23%) is for electrical end-uses, including lighting and appliances. Buildings and the construction sector are together responsible for 39% of all carbon emissions in the world, with operational emissions (from energy used for heating, cooling, and lighting) accounting for 28%. The remaining 11% comes from embodied carbon emis-
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