Thermal Environment Control of Buildings using Installation of Plants and Metal Panels on Brick Walls

Abstract

One of the thermal behaviors of bricks on building walls might store heat in large amounts and delay it to be re-released. This performance will consequently prevail over the building’s environment, comprising the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. Hence mitigation technology for controlling and managing heat gain is required to reduce the effect of UHI. Various research has studied this phenomenon mainly from orientation and the several types of wall insulation for sundry types of climates. However, it has not been significantly scrutinized from the green wall and metal panel wall viewpoint. This study aims to discern the thermal behavior of regular building brick walls using 3 (three) types of walls, i.e., conventional brick walls, metal-panel wall technology such as Aluminum Composite Panel (ACP) without air gap, and green walls technology by planting the vines in a trellised container with a sandy loam substrate. ENVI-met V4 software is performed for simulation by modeling a house building measuring 8 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 5 meters high. Metal panels and green walls are installed on all brick walls on the building’s west and east sides. The parameter observed was the surface temperature of walls and the air temperature pattern by introducing fixed wind speed (0,1 m/s). In the daytime, the results showed that using the technology intervention with ACP provided better results in terms of lower surface temperature than other types with a 0,6 – 6,7 % difference due to its conductive properties in storing heat. Moreover, green wall intervention utilizing vegetation yields better performance in the nighttime with a 0,3 – 3% difference as the Ivy Hadera is holding the heat during that time. Green wall intervention also evinces significant temperature rising at 09.00 – 16.00 since the Ivy Hadera vegetation has relatively sparse leaf space; hence there is a considerable amount of heat radiation reaching through the walls, and there is evapotranspiration of the vegetation causing heat release to the atmosphere.