Impact of the integration of phase change materials on the thermal behavior of the building envelope during the summer period of Tunisia

Abstract

The integration of phase change materials (PCM) into the building envelope is an effective solution to enhance thermal comfort in buildings, especially in summer. The aim of this work is to study the effect of the addition of a PCM layer on the thermal behavior of a mono-zone local through numerical simulation using the method nodal. The building is exposed to external solar flux for a Tunisian climate (city of Sousse) and the indoor air temperature of the building is supposed to be imposed or variable in time. The results showed that the integration of the PCM into building sensibly influences the thermal inertia by reducing the peak of the indoor air temperature and by decreasing the energy consumption.