Experimental study on the impact of mass moisture content on the evaporative cooling effect of porous face brick

Abstract

Porous face bricks on the outside of a building wall exhibit evaporative cooling after absorbing water. Thus, these bricks are promising for use as a passive energy-saving building technology. Artificial watering is an effective method to ensure a sufficient water supply for effective evaporative cooling. However, improper watering measures may result in the waste of water resources while failing to achieve the evaporative cooling effect. In this paper, studies were conducted on a composite wall composed of a facing layer and a base layer as follows. (1) The mass moisture content variations in the porous face brick with respect to soaking time were measured, and the feasibility of using this type of face brick as an evaporative cooling carrier was investigated. (2) The relationship between mass moisture content and the evaporation capacity of the porous face brick was determined under stable conditions. A critical mass moisture content for the porous face brick was determined through analysis of the measurement data. (3) A field measurement was performed to verify the feasibility of using the critical mass moisture content as a criterion for watering. The results indicate that the temperature and heat flows at the inner and outer surfaces of the composite wall were reduced significantly. However, when the mass moisture content exceeded the critical mass moisture content, the evaporative cooling capability tended to stabilize with further watering. Therefore, the critical mass moisture content of the porous face brick can be used as a criterion for watering to conserve water while facilitating the evaporative cooling effect.